Of Lies and Deceptions
by Asmith137
Summary: They finally found her, and she is going to pay dearly for her crimes. An old enemy comes back to haunt her to seek revenge and steal what she has. Sanity, relationships, and loyalties will be tested. Enemies in the least expected of places and betrayel around every corner. Lies are spilled, deceptions follow, but one thing is for certain...the girls will never be the same again.
1. Chapter 1

Over the mighty and crashing sea of the Atlantic Ocean; a single raven flapped against the harsh currents of the wind with a bird sized satchel that carried various important and classified papers inside. The satchel was stretched over its back and was left hanging in the wind. The bag was more important than the messenger, as it was the nature of his line of work.

The messenger was a brown-necked raven with fifty-six centimeters in length. Its plumage was black but seemed to have been mixed with a faint purplish-blue color. However, its neck feathers were brown, as its name implied. Its feet, legs, and beak were a distinct black.

This raven had been traveling over the ocean for a while to deliver a special, high priority message. It was growing tired from the constant effort to fly but the sight of land from a distance was comforting.

It caught a lucky break when an updraft came and allowed the bird to glide across the sky without a single ounce of effort. Its wings relaxed as it finally stopped flapping. The wind brought a new sense of ease despite the pressing concerns of the situation that this messenger was barely aware of. All it focused on was that it had to reach its destination by a deadline but today was its last day.

Less than ten minutes passed before the coast of the avian's destination was right below him.

A sigh escaped the birds black beak, as it knew it was going to have to hurry and reach its target. With purpose, the raven dived dramatically downwards and spread its wings out just before it hit the reflective surface of the water. A startled fish that had been skimming the top jumped out of the blue depths and the raven managed to catch and swallow it without breaking speed.

There were boats docked near the harbor, which nearly got in its way, but it still managed to dodge and avoid smacking into sails, metal, and people that were aboard the ships and various sized boats. Just a few minutes and it would be at its goal.

Only recently had the raven's commanders found their specific target, whose activity had been low for more than four years. A message had been made from one of the "Top Guys" as most of this birds fellow workers liked to call them that was requested to be delivered at a certain date and time. The bird's time was almost up, too.

But if this bird wasn't tired...

* * *

><p>The Central Park Zoo was experiencing a beautiful season. Autumn.<p>

The bright orange, red, and yellow leaves that littered every spot on the ground were crunched on by the Zoo's visitors feet as they went from habitat to habitat too enjoy the performances the animals had to offer. The sky had delicate shapes of various clouds but none dared to cover up the sun. A gentle warm breeze blew by that wafted against Manhattan and would bring pleasant shivers up someone's spine, especially if they were lying out and basking under the warm sun. Trees were beautiful bursts of orange, as were the bushes, and the colors of autumn complimented the Zoo's look to make it a stunning sight to behold.

The Asian otter, Marlene, entertained visitors by flopping into her pool of water by using her stone, smooth slide. The lemurs were dancing like they had never danced before to various tracks of music and were constantly shaking their tails till they couldn't do it anymore. Of course that meant Julien kept at it and was forcing Maurice and Mort to go on. Not the most fun thing they've ever done but it got them some popcorn. Other animals were doing their own thing as well; like how Leonard slept through the beautiful day, Bada and Bing ate bananas and enjoyed their tire swing, and the chimpanzees enjoyed a good time with tea and newspapers when people weren't looking. They hadn't even thrown any waste at humans, which only made it a better day…for the humans.

Being in the middle of September brought these delightful conditions that seemed to perk up all the animals of the Zoo and Central Park. Even Joey seemed to be enjoying the promises the day had to offer. But this kind of day was the one that the penguins looked forward to every year.

The penguins smiled and waved and did do adorable antics that humans found to be irresistibly cute. They flipped into their pool of water, slid across the concrete island, blinked and batted their eyes, and even did little dances for their entertainment. All eight of the flightless birds were having a good day so far and that usual paranoia was drained away, for the time being, and was replaced with a sense of peace and warmth.

Another hour went by till the sound of the closing bell rang out when the metal chimpanzees struck the bell with their metal hammers.

The penguins waved in a goodbye gesture as the visitors reluctantly left the zoo with their children whining the whole time as they dragged them away. Alice still wouldn't crack a smile until everyone had left, who were really shoved out by her eagerness of the days end. She then locked up the Zoo gates and was more than happy to head home.

Amber breathed in the air and sighed contently with a soft smile appearing on her face when Alice finally closed and locked the gates. "What a great day...this is why autumn is my favorite season."

Skipper came up and casually put a flipper around Amber's shoulders. "Well it's a good day momma nature has given us."

"Sure is," Amber agreed and leaned against Skipper. They shared a soft look, a small moment between the two of them, until Private spoke up and questioned worriedly, "What's that?"

Amber and Skipper looked up, but they didn't have enough time to react before they were both bowled over by a raven. All three birds came into an awkward heap on the concrete island.

Sara winced. "That's got to hurt," she mumbled to Madison. The silent penguin nodded in agreement from beside her.

Skipper rolled over and stood up. He glowered at the stranger as it flapped off of Amber, who spat out various colored feathers.

The raven shook its body, causing its black feathers to become more ruffled then they already were. "I got to work on my landing," it muttered in an African accent; the tenor of its voice revealing it was male. "That was probably my worst yet."

Skipper helped Amber up while looking at the raven suspiciously when he noticed the satchel. "Who are you?" he asked suspiciously. The flat-headed leader pulled Amber close, which made her roll her eyes and lightly shove him away, but Skipper didn't seem to really notice.

Kowalski intently examined the stranger while everyone else appeared confused except Flora, who seemed to freeze when she first laid her eyes on the new bird.

The raven looked at flat-headed penguin with much more friendliness then Skipper was offering. "I am afraid I cannot tell my name until I find who I am supposed to give this letter to." He opened his tiny satchel and cautiously pulled out a brown envelope. "I believe it is addressed to one of you penguins..." It was then that he noticed Flora staring at him. He stiffened with wide eyes that had some of the most dilated pupils they have ever seen. "I cannot believe it...is that _really_ you?"

It was in that instant that Flora ran up and gave this stranger a tight hug and spun him around while exclaiming, "It's you! It's you! It's really you!"

Kowalski felt something stir inside of him when he watched the two through narrowed eyes. He thought it might have been jealously, but he tried to ignore it, although it was hard to ignore when this bird hugged his girlfriend back too tightly then he would have preferred. The raven started to talk to her so quickly in a different language that Kowalski had no idea how to follow their conversation. After some exchanged words, Kowalski identified that they were speaking Arabic.

Private was the first to say anything. "Do you two know each other then?"

The two stopped talking and glanced at each other. Both responded, "Yes."

Flora then grinned widely and gestured to the raven. "This is my old friend!" she exclaimed. She tried to contain her excitement but failed miserably. "His name is Tupac." She made a gesture with her flipper and said, "We go way back! Right when I still had my down feathers." She gave him another squeeze which he eagerly returned.

Amber narrowed her eyes as she examined Tupac and something seemed to click inside of her. Her eyes lit up with realization. "Hey, aren't you that bird that knocked into me when I was out in the ocean?"

Tupac smiled good-naturedly as he came to a same realization. "Good to see you to," he chuckled and gripped the letter tightly. His expression lit up as he remembered what he had come to the Central Park Zoo for. "Right...is there a..." he trailed off as he looked at the envelope briskly, "penguin named Amber here?"

The silver female folded her flippers behind her back, puffed out her chest, and looked at Tupac like she already had authority over him. "That'd be me."

Tupac sighed in relief and handed her the letter. "Best read this then," he told her. "Urgent letter you know."

Amber rubbed the back her head awkwardly with her flipper while the other appendage tightly held the envelope that carried the urgent message. "Yeah...I can't read," she admitted in an embarrassed tone. Now she regretted never taking up Flora's reading lessons she provided to Sara. Not that she was going to admit it out loud.

Tupac shook his head in disapproval but kept his thoughts to himself. "That is not good," he told her frankly, which made her glare daggers at him, though he never meant to offend. "Best get someone to read that for you then."

Flora looked at Amber and said with a faint smirk, "I can read that for you."

"It's classified information," Tupac stated pointedly. "Only _you_ are supposed to read it..." he trailed off, a meaningful look shared between him and his old friend. "But I trust Flora, as I hope you do as well." He tiredly flapped to the bar fence that went around the habitat and sat down, making him look plump as he watched them wearily.

"Right, right," Amber mumbled and subconsciously started playing with the envelope in her flippers. "Girls, go back down, except you Flora," she ordered.

Sara and Madison shared a look but reluctantly went down into the hidden HQ. Orders were orders...unfortunately.

Amber nodded to Skipper with a bitter-sweet expression. "You to Skippy. Take your team down."

Skipper narrowed his eyes at her, flicked his stare to Tupac, and then Amber again. Without taking his eyes off of her; he ordered, "Go back inside men." He made a gesture with his flipper, and they all grudgingly disappeared into the hidden underground headquarters, leaving only the three birds left.

"I'll talk to you later Tupac," Flora promised and grinned at him.

Tupac smiled genuinely and said, "I look forward to catching up."

An uneasy feeling nestled inside Amber's gut. She could tell that this raven, Tupac, had brought a lot of problems, even if he meant to or not. "Let's go to that janitor's closet near Alice's office," Amber instructed to Flora quietly. "There will be privacy there."

Flora nodded stiffly. A quick glance at Tupac and then she asked Amber, "Do you think he could stay with us for a while?"

The stare her leader gave her the impression that she didn't like her old friend. "No," Amber answered bluntly. "Skipper wouldn't like it, and personally, I don't either." And she was right.

The intellect shuffled her feet but nodded in acknowledgement. "Right," she murmured.

Amber sighed and ordered, "To the closet."

Both females hurtled expertly out of the habitat, Amber still carrying the envelope, and slid to the direction of the janitor's closet.

Tupac watched them till they were out of sight and, when they were; he flapped tiredly to the Zoo walls and pulled out a communication device that looked vaguely like a radio. "Anyone at base?" he spoke into it calmly after pressing a red button. There was only static. "This is Brown Raven in The Big Apple, anyone there?" There was still only static for a few more moments that made his muscles tighten in anxiety. He relaxed when he finally heard a familiar voice erupt from the machine.

"_Brown Raven, have you delivered it_?" a voice spoke, hardly any specification on what it was talking about but it was not necessary.

Tupac; however, knew what it meant and responded, "Yes. Have I met my requirements?" It was quiet for a moment as Tupac looked around wearily, resisting the urge to yawn.

"_You have managed to get there in your requested time period, right, and the delivery is intact, correct_?" the voice questioned from the device.

Despite the fact that he knew the animal on the other line couldn't see him; Tupac nodded. "Correct." He hesitated for a moment and remembered his old dear friend. "But...I think I may have to stay here for a little while longer."

There was a growl on the line. "_You can't do that_," it hissed. "_You are supposed to report back to base_!"

Annoyance ruffled Tupac's feathers. "I am aware of this, but I met a...old friend of mine."

For a moment, there was only silence. It then asked more softly, "_Is it that one she penguin you're always ranting on about? The one from North Africa, right?"_

Embarrassment rolled off the raven like giant pulsating waves. Did he talk about her that often? "Yes," he answered simply. He closed his eyes in self-punishment when he heard his voice crack.

_"You're stirring up more trouble than you need too."_

"I know."

A sigh escaped the animal from the other line. "_Get back to base as soon as possible. I'll tell them that you encountered some problems or something. You know what? I really don't know; I'll come up with something on the fly_."

"Thanks," Tupac said gratefully. "I owe you one."

A snort was heard from the communication device. "_Yeah, yeah, I know. Keep on stacking them up, aren't I_?" There was a hesitant pause. "_Stay out of trouble, rookie_."

The raven chuckled quietly. "I will."

"_You better_..."

* * *

><p>Amber was tossing around various tools and objects that were in the closet and was looking over every single one of them closely but quickly. She had also locked up the room and blocked any possible way of someone listening in on them or entering uninvited, at least what she was aware of.<p>

"You mean business don't you?" Flora said solemnly in more of a statement then a question.

Her leader snapped her gaze in her direction. "This is classified, top secret stuff!" Amber slid down the wooden part of a broom and landed lightly on the ground, in front of the flower loving penguin. "I barely trust you reading this for me." She added quietly in a thoughtful tone, "Maybe I should learn how to read..."

The female strategist looked at her sympathetically. "Well I could always teach-"

"I said maybe," Amber interrupted crossly. "I rather focus on the physical aspects of my life."

"Are you-?"

Amber interrupted once more. "Yes, I am sure. And yes, I am positively sure." She then commanded, "Now read whatever is in that envelope."

Flora sighed as she opened said object and took out a sheet of paper with symbols Amber couldn't read, though Flora could with ease. The genius opened her beak was stopped again from reading the letter out loud in the closet when Amber decided she wanted to make her final "quick" checks to see if there were spies or anything that could listen in on them, which Flora still thought was a little farfetched. She rolled her eyes in annoyance when she watched her leader run about for the final check before coming to a halt.

Amber finally stopped moving and waited in front of her second in charge, trying to catch her breath. "Read," she commanded.

The taller nodded. "It reads," Flora began and started to read the paper in front of her.

_"Well it has been a while hasn't it? How many years has it been? I lost count. I'll skip the formalities and get straight to the point. My sources have finally found you after your years of inactivity. Never would have thought you would have ended up in a Zoo."_

"I knew we shouldn't have had our pictures taken!" Amber interrupted again with a harsh snarl while curling her flippers into tight balls of anger.

Flora was used to Amber's active temper, so she wasn't as fazed by it like she would have been when they first met. There was a silent cue between them that told Flora to keep reading. So she did.

_"I saw the other penguins in the picture next to you. Recruited some penguins for your own protection, or is it just because you need help on your crimes?" _

Flora looked back at Amber, who wouldn't meet her eyes, and studied her carefully before continuing slowly.

_"I think it's time you came out of the darkness and face every crime you've committed, starting with the death of my son..." _

Flora trailed off there and was about to ask something, but Amber stopped her with a simple gesture.

Amber had paled beneath her feathers. She knew who this was now. Her body suddenly felt weak and everything seemed to have gotten cold around her. "Go on," she ordered weakly and visibly shivered as old memories crept up from their depths.

This tone caused Flora to swallow thickly with apprehension. This was something she wasn't supposed to hear, much less read. Still, she continued.

_"If you don't come within two weeks after you get this letter then I will personally come to greet you myself. You do know I'm not the type to wait, so I suggest you hurry. Believe me when I say that I understand you have some new 'friends'. What a shame if something happened to them...don't disappoint me. The messenger will tell you where to go. Signed your old Commander, Tervel."_

The female scientist stared at Amber worriedly when she did not react or say anything when she finished. "Amber?" she called out hesitantly. "Who's Tervel?"

No answer.

Amber felt part of her life flash before her eyes. Death, blood, betrayal, and that first spark of love that only ended up being crushed into a bloody pulp all came rushing back to her. Everything from the very first years of her life raced before her eyes, and she found herself silently laughing, crying, and howling in agony and anger. So many emotions came across her mind from the simple letter. She looked around wildly, her breathing suddenly becoming painfully labored.

"Amber?" Flora had set the envelope down on the floor. "Are you ok?" she asked worriedly and crept forward slowly.

The silver avian tried to say something but only a squeak came out. A lump formed in her throat that she couldn't manage to swallow. Her body convulsed on an emotion overload. It was so sudden... The ground flashed before her eyes and then everything went black.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's and the story I made. Otherwise, I would totally make Julien blow up or something.<strong>

**I didn't think this chapter was going to be good but my good friend Daydreamer1412 helped out to make it much better. She's brilliant, and I owe the title to her, literally, Of Lies and Deceptions was her idea. She has good stories too, so ya might want to check them out, especially if you've watched Kaito Kid. Well I hope you like it so far, please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

Amber slowly opened her eyes and immediately noticed a dull ache on her forehead. "What happened?" she muttered groggily and winced when she touched the aching area. She jumped when she heard a voice speak up from beside her, causing Amber to turn her head to see her own second in charge writing something down on her purple clipboard.

"You had a face plant, so I brought you back here," Flora chuckled dryly, trying to lighten up the mood a bit.

There was a quiet hum from the commanding officer, barely acknowledging what Flora had said. Amber looked like she was now deep in thought, since she was staring into space with a concentrated expression and wasn't moving much. Her thoughts were focused on the letter. Never had she been so disturbed by a piece of paper.

Flora looked at Amber with a concerned expression. They were good friends and a team, so it was entirely natural for her to know that something was up or wrong with her commanding officer but questions like that could wait for a more appropriate time. It was just a little too soon to press her leader for anything like that. So instead, Flora asked, "How are you feeling? You do remember what happened, right?"

"Some," Amber lied in a mumble and laid back down on the pillow in Sara's bunk. Her eyes narrowed when she said, "That damn letter." Her earlier stress was replaced with anger but that's usually how it went with her feelings.

Flora hummed in acknowledgement at what Amber said and placed an ice pack on her leaders head. "Before you ask, everyone went out for snow-cones," Flora said when she saw Amber open her beak. The silver flightless bird slowly closed it before opening it up again. "Sara left me a note," Flora explained, smirking when she answered the un-asked question.

Amber glared at her friend for a moment before looking at the top of Sara's bunk. She jumped and yelped when someone suddenly entered the HQ, causing her eyes to widen and her breathing to pick up a bit. She was never one for surprises but that letter had left her more edgy than usual. Her body relaxed after a moment or two and she lied back down. Her ice pack now lied on the floor, slowly melting.

"How is she doing?" a thick African voice said, announcing Tupac was still in the Zoo. His presence made Amber grow into an even bitterer mood.

Flora grinned up at him. "Amber just woke up actually."

"And I already want my aspirin," the silver bird grumbled crossly.

Flora resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Amber's attitude but she still went to get her commanding officer some aspirin. She placed her clipboard down on the table, revealing squiggles of words, various doodles and crude sketches of penguins and atoms.

Tupac hopped on over to Flora and asked her quietly, "Is she always like this?" The look she gave him made him rephrase, "Is she always this moody?"

That question caused Flora to laugh. Not even less than an hour had passed, and Tupac already realized just how temperamental Amber could be. She told him quietly as she prepared the aspirin, "It's her norm but you get used to it."

"Really?" Tupac looked at her disbelieving and hopped on top of the table, taking care to not step on the clipboard.

"No," Flora admitted but grinned at Tupac, which he returned.

"I'm still here!" Amber snapped from the bunks. She sat up when Flora gave her a mug full of aspirin. There was no hesitation as she started to chug the entire thing, promising Flora that she would probably have to get her aspirin multiple times before Amber stopped asking for it. Only once she was done indulging herself with the first mug did she ask, "So...you two were friends, huh?"

"Still are," Tupac corrected pointedly with a smile.

"That's fine and dandy," Amber mumbled sarcastically. She then lightly tapped the mug in deep thought, dismissing the two.

Flora and Tupac exchanged a look and shrugged. Flora sat down at the table, Tupac content standing on it, and the two shared old memories in the same language they had spoken just a while ago. They laughed, got depressed, laughed again, and grinned at all the mischief they had gotten into in their younger years, not that they were that old.

After a while, everyone came back, loaded with snow-cones. Amber was still deep in thought, still in the same position, and didn't notice them enter. Flora and Tupac were still engaged in their conversation and also hadn't noticed their arrival.

"We're back!" Sara greeted, a bit overly cheery because of the rainbow snow-cone. She did not seem to notice that the three animals she greeted hadn't even heard her. With Private following close behind, she skipped over to the television, both of them smiling a bit wider than they should have.

Skipper came up to Amber and lightly tapped her shoulder. As expected, she jumped and yelped in surprise. Her feathers fluffed up and she looked like she was about to have a heart attack. Skipper chuckled and held up a snow-cone. "For you, doll face." His smirk faltered for a moment when he saw how un-interested she was in the frosty treat. "What? Is something wrong with it?" he asked and eyed it suspiciously, like it was poisoned.

Amber shook her head and finally accepted the treat. "It's fine," she assured and kissed the side of his beak to get him to leave her alone. Her tongue licked the snow-cone but it didn't taste as well as she had hoped it would have been. She noticed Skipper was still there and forced a grin. "Really, it's great."

Skipper looked doubtful but went away to the television, knowing Amber wanted to be alone for the time being. Meanwhile; Kowalski approached Flora and Tupac. At first, he happily announced the treat he got for her but he felt like he was being ignored after he received no kind of response.

Kowalski grew increasingly irritated that his own girlfriend wasn't even aware of his presence by the second. "Flora?" he called out.

Flora was giggling at something Tupac was saying and they both shared more words in the Arabic language. Kowalski called her name again but louder, resulting in Flora leaning her head in his direction, still listening to something Tupac was saying and greeted half-heartedly, "Oh, hey." Then she started laughing with Tupac at whatever he must have said.

Kowalski felt his eye twitch. "Flora," he called out even louder. Still ignored. He rolled his eyes in his increasing annoyance. The strategist was losing patience on the situation. He tapped her shoulder, and she finally turned to look at him.

"Oh hi Kowalski!" she greeted and perked up more, if it was possible, and gave him a hug while avoiding the snow-cone.

"Yeah, hi," Kowalski greeted half-heartedly. He resisted the urge to glare at Tupac. This bird was Flora's friend. It wouldn't help to make a bad impression on his opinion of the stranger.

Flora immediately pulled away and frowned at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Kowalski sighed and handed her the snow-cone he had gotten for her. "Here you go." He went away after that, grumbling to himself.

This left Flora confused. She looked down at the snow-cone then back at Kowalski, who slammed the lab door shut with a click following, signaling it was now locked and that he wanted to be left alone. She looked at Tupac with a sort of helpless expression. "What did I do? Did I do something wrong?" she asked her old friend.

Tupac shrugged with sympathy evident in his facial features. "I don't think it's you. He's probably just in a mood." He hopped over and put a comforting wing around her. "Ravens were always like that back home."

Flora sighed. "Yeah...but Kowalski isn't a raven." She gave him her snow-cone. "You can have it. I'm not in the mood for it." The brown avian then went off, Tupac not bothering to stop her, and climbed the ladder to the outside world.

The first thing she saw was Rico laughing as he tickled Madison, who was laughing harder than her boyfriend and had happy tears sliding down her face as she tried to helplessly defend herself. Two melted snow-cones littered on the concrete island, leaving their colorful syrup become a rainbow pool.

This scene didn't really change Flora's mood. She decided to head to the park to look at the flowers to get her mind off things, but she had no idea on what was eating at Kowalski. With a sigh to herself, she hurtled out of the habitat and dejectedly waddled to the park.

Back down under, Amber was mulling over what to do.

_'Tervel...I thought I ditched that punk years ago,_' she thought to herself. '_Should have killed him when I had the chance...I was weak then. Not now._' She crushed the plastic cone in her flipper, some of the left over flavor syrup coating her flipper in its sticky substance, and glared at the wall across from her. _'What the hell does he want?'_ she thought angrily, but her facial expression fell into depression. '_He knows where I am...he must have some animals in his control._' She looked up at Tupac and glowered at him. _'I don't trust that bird...'_

Tupac had his tongue on the snow-cone when he noticed Amber glaring at him. He paused in mid-lick and stared back at her. "What?" he asked after a minute of uncomfortable staring.

Something in Amber caused her to relax and her gaze softened, strange as it was. She finally hopped out of the bunk and carelessly tossed the crushed snow-cone away. "Look here..." she began when she was in front of the brown necked raven. "I need your help." For a moment, she looked in Skipper's direction and almost grinned when she saw him laugh at something on the television before turning her gaze back to the raven.

Tupac was eyeing her quizzically. "Depends...what is it?"

"I need you to take me back to Commander Tervel," Amber said, shivering at the name.

"He's not a commander," Tupac corrected and looked at her suspiciously, as if uncomfortable. "How do you know him?"

Amber rolled her eyes. "He was the one who sent the letter," she explained blandly. You'd think he'd know that. "And he wants me to come over to wherever he is and the letter said you would take me to him." Explaining this seemed pointless to her, but she tried not to show it.

Tupac shifted uncomfortably. "You don't want to go to him."

"You're right. I don't." She then grasped his chest feathers tightly and pulled him forward till they were beak to beak. "But you better bring me to him," she hissed.

Tupac swallowed at the silent threat that her fiery eyes told him. They flashed and he knew she meant business. "Alright, alright..." He brushed her off when she slackened her grip greatly.

Amber flinched when she heard Skipper call out, "Everything ok over there?" She looked over at him and saw that all of them were looking at her and Tupac. "Everything's fine," she lied.

Sara and Private instantly dismissed the situation and went back to watching the TV. Skipper, on the other hand, was looking at her and Tupac skeptically. He watched her for a while before slowly turning his gaze back to the television.

"You are not going to be very friendly to me, are you?" Tupac inquired to her, quiet enough so only Amber could hear.

"Oh, what gave you that impression?" Amber questioned sarcastically while rolling her eyes. "I'll choose when I want to be friendly." She jabbed him in the chest and growled, "I just don't trust you." She sighed and drew back, her anger seemingly disappearing. "But I still need you to take me to Tervel. But only because you are the only one who knows where he is."

Tupac exhaled tiredly and looked at his feet. "But I'm serious...you really don't want to see him," he pressed.

"I don't," Amber admitted grudgingly and crossed her flippers over her chest. She looked somber as she sighed, "But I have to."

The raven nodded slightly in understanding. "Just so you know...he's all the way in Europe."

Amber glowered at the ground. "Of course it's Europe..."

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, Flora has a purple clipboard. And she is a bit too oblivious to the situation around her, isn't she? <strong>

**This was more of a chapter to get the story moving...Ok; I had almost no idea what to put in this chapter. And, to be honest, I have practically no idea how I'm going to do this story, so let's see how that goes. XD Please review.**


	3. Chapter 3

"You have penguin-sized planes?" Tupac asked in a surprised tone and held his satchel tightly in a protective manner. He never left without it and was not about to start anytime soon. "I had thought you had military training but I had no idea you had _planes_."

Amber smirked but shook her head. "Nah, these belong to Skipper."

In front of the pair were four yellow toy planes, something the penguins had kept after Marlene had gone completely feral. Inside it had been adjusted for penguin use only but even so it was for special operations only but this was such an occasion. Its design resembled one of a Bi-plane, painted yellow with blue streaks.

"Is he your boyfriend or something?" Tupac asked curiously, his African accent making Amber's eye twitch. He was observant most of the time and it was obvious to him that Amber had feelings for Skipper. Still, he wanted confirmation.

"Shut up," she snapped and waddled to the closest plane. She hopped on into it and looked at the controls. "Get ready to say good-bye to Flora."

Tupac flinched a bit. "We are leaving that soon?" Don't get him wrong, he knew they had to leave soon but he didn't expect to be so rushed about it.

"Of course," Amber said, only paying half of her attention to the brown-necked raven as she looked over the controls. "The sooner the better."

"Are you not going to say your farewells then?" Tupac asked.

Amber stiffened for a moment but shook her head and snapped, "No." That would be hard for her. Besides, her girls would want to join, being both loyal as soldiers and friends. Not to mention Skipper and his unit would probably like to tag along as well. Nevertheless, this was her mission. "Just go say good-bye already," she ordered harshly.

Tupac eyed her questioningly before he flapped his wings and took off out of the penguin's open garage. He soared into the air, going higher and higher until he hovered over the Zoo where he got a good look at all the habitats. A worried look appeared on his face. Where was she? He scanned the area and grinned when he finally spotted her in the park. It was hard not to notice. A bunch of flowers was surrounding a brown and white figure. A dramatic dive sent him spiraling downwards towards her. Unfortunately, he still had no idea how to land.

Next thing he knew, he was sprawled out in a bed of flowers with Flora not too far away from him. "Sorry," he apologized.

Flora sat up and laughed quietly. "Is this a normal occurrence to you?"

"As normal as breathing." Tupac hopped back up to his feet and eyed the flowers. "It is pretty," he stated simply.

"Yes," Flora murmured, sounding wistful, and stood up so she could gaze at the beautiful patch of flowers. However, some was messed up from the crash. "I found this patch, so I like to look at all the flowers. I like to help them grow as well." She looked at Tupac and blinked slowly at him, seeming to read his thoughts like a book. "You appear troubled. What's up?"

He decided to be blunt with her. "I have to leave, Flora."

Flora stiffened. "Already?" she asked with clear disappointment lacing her voice. "I thought...I thought you would be staying a little longer." Her gaze lowered to the floor, her back slumping. Only recently had she been reunited with a long lost friend and now he was leaving already.

Tupac sighed, hopped over to Flora, and held onto her shoulders, which was awkward since he was only about half her height. "I got other stuff to take care of."

"Right. Deliveries, correct?"

"Yes." Well at least he didn't really lie to her. Flora did not appear to feel any better so he tried to reassure her. "Hey, I am going to come back for visits. I mean, I thought you were dead before," he admitted, looking upset at the thought. "Now that I know you are alive; obviously, I can come visit you whenever I have time."

Flora held up her flipper. "Wait, you thought I was dead?"

"Yes!" Tupac exclaimed and threw his wings out dramatically. "You went missing out at sea for crying out loud! Everyone thought you died!"

"Everyone?"

Tupac nodded solemnly.

Flora rubbed the back of her head, feeling guilty. "I should have done something to show I was alive."

"You should have," Tupac sighed. "I was really upset."

Sympathy enveloped the brown flightless avian's heart. "I'm sorry," she said quietly and gave Tupac a comforting hug. She smiled again when he returned it with as much feeling, possibly more. She pulled away and laughed, "But hey, I'm alive now!"

"That is all that matters." Tupac grinned.

"I concur."

The brown-necked raven looked uneasy again. "Well, I got to go then."

Flora slumped, crestfallen. "Bye then." She enveloped him another tight hug, tears threatening to escape her eyes. "Please visit again soon," she pleaded quietly. No way was she going to let one of her best friends escape her that easily. She would let him do whatever he had to do...but that didn't mean she wouldn't go visit him herself if she had to.

"Of course," Tupac promised in a wheeze and broke the tight hug. However, when he looked into her eyes, he felt guilty and wanted her to come with him, but he also wanted her to stay here where it was safe so she couldn't get hurt. Tupac's gaze dropped back to the patch of flowers where something caught his eye. He leaned down and picked a nearby flower by its stem, a Geranium, and presented it to Flora, a soft grin spreading across his facial features. Its five petals were a bluish purple, which would appeal to anyone who liked flowers, with a straight light green stem. "For you."

Flora slowly reached for it and grasped it by them stem, caressing its fragile petals lovingly. She examined it carefully, every single detail revealed to her like a beautiful painting. "Geranium pratense or Meadow Cranesbill," she murmured to herself subconsciously. To her, it was a very pretty flower indeed. One that had unfortunately escaped her sights out of all the times she came to the small patch of flowers. She looked up, opened her beak to speak but cut herself off, and slumped a bit. She was speaking only to the wind and a few scattered inky feathers.

* * *

><p>"I won't be modest," Amber began to herself and looked at her reflection up and down in a mirror with a large smirk. "I look hot," she stated and put her flippers on her hips. She was wearing black shades that she had found in one of the penguin-sized Bi-planes and instantly found a liking to it. The mirror was something else she had found and had been doing some posing in front of it ever since Tupac had left.<p>

"Am I interrupting something?" a voice spoke up.

"Gah!" Amber shrieked and literally tossed the mirror at the source. Her target ducked out of the way before the mirror made contact. She glowered at the intruder after raising the shades up from her eyes, not caring about the mess she created. "Don't scare me like that," she ordered. She reached where her heart was and felt in beating quickly. "You nearly gave me a heart attack! Don't do that again, I can't handle surprises!"

Tupac smirked bitter-sweetly, though he was apologetic. "Clearly." He approached the Bi-plane Amber had been preparing, before she found the shades, and examined it closely. "Pardon me for interrupting your mirror time, I did not mean to scare you honestly, but I finished with my farewells," he said, trying to be as polite and as formal as possible. It was obvious he wasn't going to get anywhere if he wasn't.

"Whatever," Amber grumbled crossly and waved him off with her flipper. She let her newly found shade glasses drop back down in its original position over her eyes as she waddled to toy plane. "So are you ready?" Amber asked and hopped into the small Bi-plane. She quickly pressed various buttons until she heard the engine start.

Tupac simply nodded, looking determined.

Amber smirked, almost deviously. "Then to Europe!" she exclaimed dramatically over the engines. The adrenaline she felt for flying kept her mind occupied, instead of cluttered with troubled thoughts of the situation she was getting into. Amber rubbed her flippers together expectantly as she eyed the controls in front of her. She started to randomly press buttons, making Tupac concerned over the delay.

"What are you doing?" Tupac asked.

"I have absolutely no idea what any of these do," Amber admitted with a grin. She kept pressing the buttons, pulling a lever or two, causing some grenades to shoot into the zoo. "Oops," she chuckled when a trashcan exploded. "I don't know how to fly a plane either!" she admitted over the engines when the plane finally started moving forward when she had pushed a lever forward. "Or work any vehicle for that matter!"

"Is there anything else I should know?" Tupac shouted, starting his flight. He launched himself into the air and flapped beside the yellow plane as it slowly rose up into the sky, flying over the reptile house.

Amber smirked. "Yes. If you give me a reason to not trust you anymore than I do now then I will kick your sorry a-"

"I think I get the message," Tupac cut off, a bit disturbed. '_Why did they choose me for the job_?' he thought to himself, sweat dropping anime style.

"Then I have done my job," Amber said smugly, not bothering to hide her amused grin. "Woohoo!" she cried out with rare excitement at her successes._ 'I think I am doing a good job flying this thing,_' she thought with pride. She regretted thinking that when the bottom of the plane hit one of the metal monkeys, nearly taking it off the bell tower. "My bad!" She quickly recovered and got comfortable for the flight to Europe.

* * *

><p>Flora was stunned. "Europe?" she murmured. When she attempted to find Tupac, since she had a hunch he was still in the Zoo, she had gone to the garage for a shortcut or some luck that he would be there. She had not expected to hear that Amber was going to Europe with her old friend though. She gripped the Meadow Cranesbill flower tightly. Flora remembered the letter and mentally slapped herself. If she had not been so distracted by Tupac then she might've already known that Amber would have gone to this Tervel guy. "Stupid!" she scolded and slapped her cheek harshly, sending herself to her side.<p>

This was not the time for self-punishment.

She stood up with sudden determination, ran into the garage before the secret entrance/exit closed up, and followed a passage that led to the penguin habitat HQ. When she came in, Flora made sure to make it as casual and calm like as possible. That, for her, meant speed walking to their wooden table and falling flat on her face after tripping over her feet, though it was not on purpose. Still, it wasn't necessary considering just about everyone was watching the television, laughing too hard to notice her, besides Kowalski, Madison, and Rico.

After brushing herself off, looking quite embarrassed, she quickly approached the table and picked up her purple clipboard and pencil. She placed it under her flipper when she came to the girl's bunks and jumped into hers. Instantly, she flipped through the many pages and came to one in the middle that didn't have any notes, equations, and random doodles on it. It wasn't often that she wrote entries in it, fearing someone might read it if she did, but Flora had to put this down now. This was going to be interesting to reflect back on, a mission file probably, something she wouldn't want to forget.

Quickly, words were jotted down in fast blurs, still looking decent in penmanship.

"Flora, what are you doing?" Skipper's voice rang out.

Without looking up, she responded, "Nothing of your concern Skipper." What one hell of a lie. Nevertheless, she was left alone after that.

She wrote even faster, her eye twitching when she kept hearing the laughs that erupted from their beaks at the content they were watching on the tube. It was irritating to be the only one who actually knew what was going on, while the others were happy and so damn oblivious. But that could not be helped. There wasn't a chance she was going to spill on what she had heard.

She stopped writing; however, when she realized that Amber and Tupac would soon be out of her range to track. Despite knowing they were going to Europe, she didn't know the area or whatever place in that state they would be in. In blind panic, she jumped out of her bunk and left her clipboard half concealed under her pillow, with the flower Tupac gave her marking her latest entry.


	4. Chapter 4

"I totally meant to do that!" Amber exclaimed for the seventh time in the last hour. There had been a few issues, considering she had nearly crashed once or twice into the water. Not to mention she kept hitting the wrong buttons that sent explosives and other various artillery exploding and shooting everywhere.

Tupac did not look amused while he flapped a little up ahead of the Bi-plane. He stopped laughing six times ago. The raven had also gotten use to dodging everything thrown at him. "I think I get why penguins are not meant to fly."

Amber glowered at him. "Shut up, I just don't know how to work this thing."

"And you said that the last seven times you nearly blew me up with a grenade."

"Half of those weren't even on purpose, give me a break!"

Tupac said to himself quietly, "Well that's comforting."

"What was that?" Amber growled.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing," Tupac said, trying to hide his amused smile.

There was a brief silence. And then Amber spoke. "Are we there yet?"

Tupac resisted the urge to roll his eyes, settling with an eye twitch instead. It was just one of those questions. The ones that made you want to slam your head repeatedly against a wall. How he loathed those types of questions. "If we were, do you not think we would see land by now?"

Amber leaned back, one flipper lying out of the rim of the cockpit and the other keeping the wheel straight. "Probably...are we close to getting there, then?" When there was no answer, she flicked her orangish orbs in Tupac's direction. For the first time, she realized just how tired he looked. "I would suggest we could take a rest," Amber began, smirking in bitter sweet amusement. "But you can't really do that when you're halfway out in the ocean to Europe."

* * *

><p>Kowalski paced in his lab, grumbling to himself about the situation. "What if Flora like-likes Tupac? Will I just be crushed like I was with Doris?" He slapped himself. "No! Flora said to never mention her name again!" The scientist sighed, thinking his own girlfriend wouldn't really care anymore. "But she might be harboring feelings for him," he grumbled in self-pity. He stopped and came to a decision.<p>

He was going to find Flora and confirm what he believed.

After unlocking and opening his lab door, Kowalski entered the main part of their HQ. Skipper was looking around, quite frantically actually, and the two psychopaths had only just entered through the fishbowl entrance. Sara and Private were looking around as well, clearly worried.

"Did I miss something?" Kowalski inquired, confused.

Skipper looked up at him, pausing in his search. "Is Amber and/or Flora in there with you?" he asked briskly. Kowalski shook his head, closing the door. "Blast! We need to find those two!"

Worry gripped Kowalski's heart. What if something bad happened to them? What if something happened to Flora? He shook his head, scolding himself. Worrying wasn't going to help the situation, only action.

Kowalski decided to check a different area of their vast HQ. He quickly waddled to the direction of the garage and listened carefully for any sign of the missing girls. If it was sound, a shadow, or any clue, he wanted to find it. A sudden thought struck him. Tupac was missing as well. That only spelled disaster. And in all the years of being on Skipper's team, Kowalski knew disaster was inevitable in this zoo.

With a sigh and less of a spring to his step, the scholar penguin made his way through the passage he was investigating. Upon hearing a very familiar voice coming from the garage, Kowalski skidded to a halt and ducked behind a corner. He peaked his head out to see Flora report into a tape recorder that looked very similar to Skipper's, "Flora's log, 1500 hours." He cautiously kept low, not wanting Flora to catch sight of him.

Flora was putting her equipment into the Bi-plane, as much as she could without cluttering it to the point where she couldn't fit or operate the plane. At the same time, she was recording her thoughts and plans with Kowalski eavesdropping on her.

"I've decided to follow Tupac to Europe. Can't say for certain if I will be able to come back." She then tossed a small medical kit into the plane she was taking. She stopped stuffing the aircraft and focused on the recording. "Though it's very important I don't have anyone coming along. Complications will ensure if they do. I already feel ambivalent on what I should say to my friends...and Kowalski..." She hesitated before finishing with, "on my decision."

Said penguin stiffened and scowled at his webbed feet.

"That matter aside, I've decided that I will go after Tupac and reach him before he is out of range." Flora looked grim when adding, "I'm not about to lose one of my greatest friends." She finally climbed into the plane, turned off the recorder, and started it up.

Kowalski wanted to stop her. But he couldn't bring himself to move. It was too late anyway by the time he could force himself to look into the garage again. Only a few objects were scattered around, leaving only that, their pink car, and two other Bi-planes.

While Kowalski was developing a plan, Sara was walking through to HQ calling out to the rooms, "Amber, Flora!"

The others had gone for a better search outside of their HQ but she and Madison had refused to join them. Instead, they waited in the HQ in hopes they would return. Though Sara was caught in a moment where she was still calling out their names in the some-what empty room.

Madison was leaning against a wall, flippers crossed, looking both bored and annoyed. Every time Sara would speak, Madison would think, '_shut up, shut up!_' What she wouldn't give to be with Rico right then and there. After all, they could be blowing things up then waiting out for Flora and Amber to show up. The thought actually made Madison frown. Now she was concerned for her missing friends.

"Where do you suppose Flora and Amber are?" Sara asked in a worried tone, breaking through Madison's thoughts.

The silent female only shrugged in response. Madison then stood up and started sniffing around, vaguely like a dog.

Sara sighed. "Madison, what on Earth is it you're doing?"

She was simply ignored and received no gesture or sound of acknowledgment. Madison seemed to give up on tracking by smell after a minute, not that she thought she could pull it off. Instead, she looked at their bunks, a distressed look on her face. It turned into something more curious upon noticing a strange purplish-blue object poking out of Flora's. Madison grunted in confusion but hurtled to the bunk, catching it by the edge.

"What's that?" Sara asked from below. She side-stepped when Madison came down with something clamped in her beak. Sara took the object, Flora's clipboard, and eyed it curiously. "You think it might be a way to find Flora and/or Amber? Brilliant!" she praised.

Madison half-smiled sheepishly. She just wanted to see what that purple thing was. Well now she knew. It was a simple flower. She looked at it blankly before setting it down on their table. Even she had to admit that it was kind of pretty, if not anything.

Sara was flipping through the pages and came to the last one with any writing on it. She ran her eyes over it quickly and appeared a bit surprised by the time she was done.

Rudely, Madison shoved Sara's head away to have a look. Though she quickly realized she didn't understand what was on there at all. With a snort, Madison took a step back and crossed her flippers in mild indignation. Reading was an ability she didn't have, not that she cared or anything, but it was a pain to be unable to read something like this.

"If you behave, I might read what it says to you," Sara said, looking irritated herself. Madison raised a non-existent brow to her, making Sara put her flippers on her hips. "You don't have to be such a pain." Strange as it was, Madison grinned. The small avian sighed but decided to read it aloud.

_'Amber and Tupac have embarked to Europe. The only reason I can think of is because of this Tervel character. I'm unaware with his ties to Amber or his significance but it sounds dire. After some thinking, I've decided to go along with them. No doubt Amber will punish me, if I am to be caught, but I must assist in any way I can. Plus, I can't let Tupac leave. Not yet. I will take a plane_-'

Sara stopped there and looked down at the clipboard, troubled.

Madison made a gesture to continue, but Sara shook her head. "That's all there is," she insisted. This troubled Madison and Sara greatly. It did not sound good to either of them, only offering a dark foreboding in their minds of all the trouble and danger that was bound to inevitably happen to the absent birds.

Just before Sara could say or do anything more, Kowalski came into the room but headed straight for his lab, seeming to be in a rush. The scientist appeared to have been unaware of their presence, too focused on the task he was thinking about to even care.

The two females exchanged a look, Madison shrugging slightly, before looking back at the lab door.

"Think he knows about Flora?" Sara inquired to her quiet friend. Madison nodded, looking at the lab door with suspicion. "Should we follow him?" Sara suggested. The mute female penguin, once again, nodded.

If he didn't notice them before, he didn't notice them when he left the lab with a bag of what the girls assumed were supplies. Neither of them bothered with stealth when following Kowalski, since he seemed a bit too preoccupied with...whatever he was doing. They followed him into the garage, some items falling out of the bag he carried that they stepped over, only making them grow more suspicious at the sight of these tools.

Kowalski jumped into one of the two remaining Bi-planes, having his bag of supplies pushed to the side of the cockpit, though it looked uncomfortable for him. He pressed a button, making the engine start up.

The two girls finally decided to make their presence known. "Kowalski!" Sara shouted over the noise, Madison flapping her flippers up and down frantically to get his attention. It worked, and the strategist looked in their direction, surprised.

"What are you two doing here?" Kowalski exclaimed over the battery powered engine.

"Amber and Flora are heading out to Europe, so we are to!" Sara declared; Madison nodding in support of the statement.

Kowalski shook his head. "I don't think so. It's better if you two stay here." _'It'll be easier for me too,'_ he added silently.

But Madison wouldn't take no for answer. And she wasn't about to take orders from anyone other than Amber either.

She narrowed her eyes at Kowalski when the Bi-plane started to slowly exit the opened garage. Quickly, she grabbed a grappling hook, something that had fallen out of Kowalski's bag of supplies, and started swinging it over her head. Before the yellow Bi-plane exited the garage Madison wrapped a flipper around Sara's waist, and the smaller instinctively clutched onto Madison, and tossed the grappling hook at her target. It grasped the axel of the plane that held the landing equipment and wrapped around it firmly. Sara and Madison yelped in surprise as they flew forwards with the plane.

Kowalski looked backwards upon hearing the sound and was shocked when he saw Sara and Madison dragging across the ground. "_What_ are you two doing?"

They didn't answer, being too occupied with their faces rubbing against the ground. Madison looked up and, as luck would have it, a frisbee was lying around with a bag of other delightful amusements nearby. Though it was difficult, Madison managed to flip onto it, with Sara joining her, and they started to ride the frisbee. They moved together in sync to dodge objects and habitat walls that were in their way, often forcing Kowalski and the plane to move, but the Bi-plane was gradually rising. Unfortunately, they were running out of Zoo and a wall was approaching fast.

"Go up, go up, go up, go up!" Sara cried out, finally high enough that their feet were dangling a foot over the ground, the frisbee forgotten. Though the two females were far from being safe of the quickly approaching wall. "For Pete sake Kowalski, _go up already_!"

"I'm trying!" Kowalski was panicking, pushing random buttons that he thought would help. With all this pressure, he could not think straight. Finally, he pulled a lever that brought the plane up dramatically.

Though the momentum still had them going toward the wall but at least they were rising. At the last possible moment, Sara screaming and Madison cringing, they got over the wall. But not without Madison getting her feet a chance to make painful contact with it, bending them backwards painfully. She grunted, grinding her beak together, refusing to howl out in pain.

Sara gasped in concern. "Are you alright?" she asked, looking her friend up and down for injuries.

This made Madison snarl. '_Hell no!'_ she thought angrily, growling at Sara. '_Do I look alright to you_?'

"Well I'm sorry," Sara apologized, almost mockingly. She looked up through narrowed eyes at where Kowalski was, who was casting glances to them every five seconds. "But it's not my fault we nearly hit a wall!"

"But you two just had to hitch a ride on this plane," Kowalski argued. "I fail to see how Madison's possible injury is my fault."

Sara scowled slightly, while Madison was glaring ferociously. "You could have just turned the plane around, you know that right?"

The strategist mentally face palmed. "I was under a lot of pressure, ok?" He sighed but tried to defend himself. "Besides, even if I did turn, there wouldn't have been enough time that would prevent you both from hitting the wall."

"Well you could have done it earlier!"

With a sigh, Kowalski decided to change the subject. "I'm going to lower down the plane and set you two back down."

Madison did a double take and growled in protest.

Sara balked for a moment. "No way! We're coming along to!"

Kowalski sighed in exasperation. "Has anyone told you that both of you are difficult?"

Sara and Madison didn't even need to look at each other. "Yes," Sara answered truthfully, speaking for herself and Madison. With a sigh, she recollected herself and her earlier anger and frustration washed away. "I'm sorry," she apologized, making Madison glare at her instead.

The silent female rolled her eyes. She hated whenever Sara was too quick to forgive or trust. It was irritating to her in an unexplainable way.

"Yeah, well, it's fine," Kowalski grumbled, turning his full attention back to flying the Bi-plane. It was hard to stay mad at the small penguin. But he still wasn't happy that they were coming along. There was going to be some complications...

* * *

><p>They had been flying for an hour now. Still no sign of land yet. But who said it would be that soon?<p>

"You sure you can make it?" Amber inquired to Tupac. She was finally starting to worry about him. It was obvious that he was struggling to stay awake and having to fly to New York probably took a good day. Twenty four hours of non-stop flight, not to mention any sleep, and now he had to go all the way back to Europe. No doubt he was exhausted.

Tupac grunted, "I can."

Amber raised a nonexistent brow disbelievingly. "Really?"

"Yes," the raven insisted.

There was a moment where Amber just stared at him before looking at the view in front of her. "If you say so, but I'm not going to save you when you fall." She had to debate if she really meant that or not. Having him die before she reached Europe was not going to help her case.

After approximately seven minutes passed, Tupac finally felt like he couldn't take it anymore. And he couldn't. His wings gave out and he started to plummet, heading right for the ocean. Too bad there wasn't any land around. Just miles of ocean.

Amber held in a gasp when she saw him finally collapse. The only thing she could say was, "Crap."


	5. Chapter 5

Amber kept muttering, "Crap, crap, crap."

So what now? Go and save the blasted raven while risking her feathers or keep going to Europe? If she did, she risked crashing into the ocean and making the situation worse. On the other flipper, if she let him die then Flora would seriously be pissed off. Not to mention it would affect her mission because she didn't know where the actual base Tervel was at. Save him or leave him? All these thoughts raced through her mind in a single second but the question was what would she do? She grimaced and made the obvious decision.

She took the controls and brought the plane downwards in pursuit. Tupac was going down fast, so she had to be quick and effective. She made an attempt to rescue him by trying to get below him but, much to her annoyance; he hit and fell off the top of the plane since she couldn't get in a straight line. There was a brief fit of panic to get the Bi-plane back on course from the hit before Amber started her descent again.

The silver bird tried a different approach. She turned the plane upside down, going in the opposite direction of Europe, and dived down in an aerial spin toward the quickly approaching water. She managed to pass him from her own plummet and shouted, "Wake up and get ready!" That seemed to wake him up but he made no other sign of acknowledgment.

Amber went horizontal again and shouted, "Keep a firm hold on the plane and don't mess me up!" The plane skimmed over the ocean water, only a few meters away from Tupac's estimated crash spot. She believed the plan was going to work by the time she got under him.

He fell on top of her plane this time and held fast, making it easier for Amber. Unfortunately, his sudden hit of weight made the Bi-plane splash down a bit into the ocean. She quickly veered upwards before the Bi-plane would falter and crash into the waves. The sudden change made the salt water spray at the pilot's eyes. Thankfully, she was still wearing those black shades and simply wiped her flipper over them so it wouldn't cloud up her vision. She continued her drastic altitude change till they were high up in the sky again, nearly brushing the tips of the pinkish tinted clouds.

"Thanks," Tupac gasped. "I thought I was a goner."

Amber shifted in discomfort as she made a steady line and looked to both sides of the ocean. "Yeah, well, you're welcome." Her bitterness quickly returned, which Tupac didn't expect any less at. "I thought you said you could keep going."

Tupac acknowledged, "I did." He quickly gave himself a look over and was relieved when he saw that his satchel was still with him.

"Then what happened?"

"I got tired," he admitted as he looked into his brown satchel. He sighed in relief. Everything was still there.

"Of course you did."

Meanwhile, three other penguins' were also out over the ocean.

Madison was grunting in pain at the tension in her muscles. Though she may have been a bit heavy, she blamed the popcorn, she was considered to be fairly strong. Her grip was making her lose feeling in her flipper and forming the possibility of falling into the ocean. It was natural for your muscles to get tired over time, unfortunate in her case or in any case. Yet it was hard to keep a grip on the rope and Sara.

"K-Kowalski, w-when will w-we reach E-Europe?" Sara asked him fearfully, holding onto Madison for dear life. She was shaking violently; not making it anymore easier for her mute companion, but it was only out of her fear of heights. Being dangled over the ocean wasn't helping much either.

Kowalski quickly came up with a quick estimation in his head. "From my calculations, it takes an average of eight hours to reach Europe from New York by plane. We've been traveling for an hour in a _toy_ Bi-plane, so...probably ten more hours at the least."

Madison groaned loudly in complaint. Ten more hours...of this? AT LEAST? Kill me now.

"It won't be that bad," Kowalski called to them. He grinned nervously and added quietly, "Hopefully." Now, he was starting to feel bad. He should've just dropped them off instead of leaving them dangling around. The strategist should've at least dropped them down so they could find an easier spot on the plane to hang around at. It wasn't really possible at the moment, since they were over the ocean. Though he was concerned for the two, his focus was on Flora, and he was determined to find and protect her.

Sara shivered as she looked down at the ocean. A lump formed in her throat that she had difficulty swallowing. To get her mind off of it, she looked at Madison. Sympathy overwhelmed her. Her mute companion was silently struggling with her eyes clenched closed as she held onto her and the grappling hook line. Sara could see the tension in her friend's muscles.

"Madison, will you be able to hold out?" the young bird asked quietly in concern. She knew full well that Madison was not alright.

The mute bird cracked her eyes open and looked at Sara. She forced a smile that came out more as a cringe and nodded stiffly. Really, she felt like crap.

Sara got her dough eyes on. "You'll be fine," she reassured. It sounded more like she was reassuring herself then her larger companion. She wrapped her flippers tighter around Madison and buried her head in the ruffled belly feathers. "I'm scared," she admitted quietly with a tear falling from her eye. What if something bad happened to Flora or Amber? The thought alone made Sara nearly burst into tears.

Madison watched Sara silently, concern slowly washing over her face. Her wing slowly tightened around Sara and she hauled the little penguin closer. She was never one to give comfort, so this was new. The only thing she could think to do involved music. She couldn't sing, much less talk so that seemed impossible. Instead, Madison settled for humming a lullaby tune, one she remembered from her oldest brother Ted, and hoped that was enough. Unfortunately, her humming sounded a bit rough, like she had something lodged in her throat, but the young bird didn't seem to mind.

It appeared to work as Sara slowly relaxed in Madison's grip. Once the tune got familiar and seemed to repeat, Sara knew it and joined Madison, only more quietly. It wasn't harmonic but it kept them calm.

Kowalski, from above, had subconsciously begun to hum along to it as they grew louder. At some point, he checked on them by looking over the side of the plane. Madison was still holding on but seemed to have gotten a renewed strength, which Kowalski silently thanked Sara for. The two had a special relationship, like sisters, Kowalski decided. Sure, they fought sometimes, but they still hung out a lot, which didn't always involve Madison's roughness, and enjoyed each-others company.

He found himself feeling a bit guilty. They were friends. Flora and Tupac are friends. What if the whole thing had, in Private's words, an innocent explanation? They were just friends? No, Kowalski denied, that was not the case. He sat back up in his seat and looked at the ocean in front of him. He saw the interaction. There was something other than friendship between them.

Tupac looked like the charismatic bird that Kowalski wasn't and seemed so calm and collected. Kowalski was, for the most part, calm but there were spasms of nervousness and panic he'd have on a daily basis, his inventions being the main cause. Charming was something Kowalski could attempt but his talk about science and math usually got him tuned out. He was smart but Tupac was smart on a different level, perhaps filled with something close to wisdom then intelligence. Was Flora 'into that?'

Those thoughts got him thinking.

What was he competing with?

* * *

><p>Back at the zoo, Skipper was standing on the concrete floe, rubbing his temples, with Rico and Private standing nearby. "This is great," he muttered sarcastically and turned to look at his remaining men. "Everyone has gone AWOL! But the question is, where to?"<p>

"Maybe they went to get some snow-cones or pretzels?" Private put out hopefully and innocently. Rico rolled his eyes from beside him, slapping the back of Private's head. The idea wasn't plausible by this point.

Skipper shook his head with scorn. "No, Private," he denied. "Don't pretend you didn't see those three leave out of the Zoo with one of our planes." He had seen them when he entered the garage, because of all the racket, that Kowalski had been piloting a plane and that Madison and Sara were sliding on a frisbee across the ground. Private and Rico had seen from the habitat concrete island.

"Madison!" Rico squawked but this went un-noticed. His concern was focused on Madison alone. The others weren't even worthy of his attention and were simply dismissed as a lower priority. Rico only wanted to find his girl and keep her safe. By now, he knew she could handle herself though.

Skipper was a different story. Yeah, he was concerned for all them, Amber particularly, but his focus was on that brown-necked raven. "Boys, I have a feeling they flew the coop because of Amber and that sketchy character, Tupac."

Rico growled. "Eh, Tupac," he snarled.

"So, what now?" Private piped up. He cared about everyone overall. "Are we...going after them?"

"Affirmative," Skipper confirmed. "And we're going to take our submarine."

* * *

><p>Tupac rested on top of the plane, careful to make sure it was balanced so they wouldn't spin out of control if he was to move. He was bored and kept looking at the sky longing. He wanted to fly but with what happened only just so long ago, he wasn't risking it to give it a try. Instead, he settled for bugging the penguin below him. "If you look to your left you will see the Atlantic ocean. Now, if you look to your right, you will see the other side of the Atlantic ocean."<p>

Amber felt her eye twitch. "Will you please...SHUT UP!"

Tupac was silenced for a second. "...if you look to the front-"

"What did I just say?" Amber snapped.

"You know, if you were not miffed all the time, I think you would be very likeable," Tupac commented, scowling. His politeness has been slowly wavering but it was hard to be patient with this bird. "It is called charm, look it up."

The silver bird was offended. "I got charm!" She coughed uncomfortably when her voice cracked and silently glowered at the raven. A realization hit her when she heard him chuckling. "Are you trying to get me mad?" she growled.

"In all honesty, my flightless friend, this trip is very boring. Nothing to do but watch the waves of the sea or the beautiful sky and let the sun bore down us. It makes me feel like a roasted chicken actually. For my answer, I believe I am trying to pursue a conversation to be friendly. We could have a good one if you stopped being so up-tight. What do you think?"

"Don't call me flightless."

Tupac sighed and rested his head on his left wing. Obviously, she hated being referenced as a flightless bird. "That is all you extracted from what I said?"

"Pretty much."

"Can we have a conversation?"

Amber stated bluntly, "No."

"But we are having one now," Tupac objected, smirking.

"Don't care."

"So tell me about your team."

"Do you ever listen?"

Tupac retorted, "Are you ever decent?"

Amber decided to ignore that. "Why would you want to know? They're MY team, not your pals."

"Flora is my 'pal', as you call it."

"Don't care."

"Yes you do," Tupac argued. "I see your obvious distain. Why you hate me so much is not much of a mystery since I can tell that you do not like anything outside your species. Come to think of it, I do not think you like much of anything, even if it is within your species."

Amber glowered. "I like things!" she objected but her glowering deepened at how childish she sounded. "Like...pretzels." Tupac looked over the top of the plane so he could see Amber's face and made a gesture with his wing for her to go on. He looked amused. "And air...sometimes."

"Sometimes?" questioned Tupac.

"It could be poisoned!"

"You are...cautious."

Amber let out an auditable sigh, "It's called paranoia." He knew that but had chosen to avoid that word. "Now, please, shut up! I said please, so just do it."

Tupac decided to close the 'conversation' after that by choice. It didn't take a genius to see how close Amber was to blowing a fuse. It was entertaining to be able to miff her so easily though. Flora had easily been able to keep up with his banter and keep a cool, if not humored, look throughout their conversation. Amber, however, could not and was easily pissed at virtually everything he said. He could not decide if it was because she was just that easily set off or if it was just him. Either way, it kept him entertained and occupied, even if her responses were short and sharp on the tongue half the time.

That was the reason he got about talking again. This time, on a more personal level then humor.

"Why do you hate me?"

Amber sniffed indifferently. "Not use to it?" Of course she suspected him to be the always likeable, charismatic bird. What she was unaware of was that Tupac knew fully well that he was not universally beloved or anything of the sort. He just considered himself the average bird that was not loved by everyone but not hated by everyone.

He repeated, "Why do you hate me?"

"I don't hate you," Amber admitted grudgingly after a minute. She focused herself again to piloting the Bi-plane instead of the raven above her. "I just don't trust you."

"Can I know why?"

Amber snapped, "I don't know, can you?"

Tupac narrowed his eyes. She's avoiding the question, stalling even. What could possibly be wrong with such an innocent question? Her stubbornness was still irritating though and he felt like slamming his head between a door himself. "Is it because I am outside the penguin species?" he pressed. He couldn't help but joke, "Perhaps you are jealous because of my good looks, yes?"

Amber, for once, found what he said to be funny. "You wish," she chuckled and shifted her position in the plane to get more comfortable. She smirked as she said, "If anything, you should be jealous of mine."

The brown-necked grinned but was not seen by the silver bird below. He was getting her to loosen up and relax, making her easier to prod for information on his question and possibly more on the way. "Amber, my friend, why do you not trust me?"

"I'm not your friend."

There it was again. She was avoiding but why? This was some sort of stalling on her part, he concluded.

"Stop avoiding it, you will fess up eventually."

Amber went back to the classic response Skipper gave her whenever she asked about Denmark. "It's classified."

"Is it now?"

"Yup and it's staying that way, so don't press the subject anymore or I'll will rip that beak of yours right off!"

Tupac fell silent for a moment. It never seemed to last and Amber knew it at this point but she still growled when he spoke again.

"Can I please know some more about your team?" he asked, almost sounding like he was begging.

Amber hated that he brought the earlier subject back up. "None of it is your business."

"I just want to know how Flora is doing! Is that such a crime?" the raven groaned and laid his head on the wing of the plane.

The silver commanding officer wasn't the type to give away information so easily. "Why would I give you information on any of them? You could just hand all of that over to Tervel." Amber then felt a bit emotional. "Then they would get round up in this crap and I don't want that. For all I know, you could be plotting against me and my girls!"

Tupac flinched from the accusation but didn't address it directly. "You may not trust me but I promise I would never do anything to harm them intentionally."

"I don't trust promises."

Tupac was about to make a remark but something caught his eye in the distance. He grinned broadly. "Well, what do you know? It is Europe on the horizon!" he exclaimed in his African accent. "Can you speed this thing up?"

Amber rolled her eyes. Her hostility was back but redirected; most likely because of the stress of the situation was starting to get to her. She was not looking forward to her encounter with Tervel. She looked to see if she could speed up the Bi-plane. She could. "I could but I don't want to."

Tupac sighed. He didn't expect different. "But we would go faster."

"Maybe I don't want to go faster." Honestly, even if she did, Amber didn't actually know how to do it.

Tupac was a bit upset that he never did get an answer to his question. Obviously, it had to be something personal or she wouldn't try to avoid it so much. "You are just saying that because you do not like me."

That was only half the truth but she wouldn't admit it. Amber was stalling because she didn't want to face Tervel. "You said it, not me."

Tupac sighed and pinched the bridge of his beak. "Actually, you have mentioned it a time or two."

"That is something you cannot prove."

"...Flora was right."

Amber didn't like the thought that Flora had been talking about her, especially if it was something negative. "About what?" she drawled suspiciously, daring him to answer just by her tone.

"You are seriously stubborn and irritable. Is there a kind of medication for that?"

* * *

><p><strong>When will there be real action you may ask? NEVER! No, it'll probably be in the next chapter or the one after that. We'll see. This was supposed to be a lightly humored thing and kinda showed a bit development on Tupac's personality. Also, I apologize for the long wait. Writers block factored in with my other many reasons why I did not update sooner. Please review!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

Amber felt a growing sense of unease well up in her gut. The closer they got to Europe the more she felt her nerves breaking. Before, she was confident and revenge driven but now...she was terrified. She masked this with an expressionless look, staring straight ahead at the continent in front of her. The shades she wore helped. Her heart thudded against her chest at the paranoid thoughts racing through her mind.

What if he was waiting for her and this had been an elaborate trap so she would get shot before she even set foot on the ground?

She _knew_ it was a trap.

It was obvious that Tervel had planned out different scenarios so he could easily switch up his plan if something was to come up. He was very intelligent and likely had something special planned for her as well. Tervel probably manipulated and lied to be able to get some power back again, enough so he could send this messenger bird with high priority. She knew him well enough to draw that conclusion.

Tervel had been her old commander. The guy who had taught her every move she knew as well as every battle tactic and strategy...the same guy who made her a hard shell with a delicate core, an emotional turmoil hiding behind a platinum wall. She would never forgive him for what he had done to her, emotionally and physically. Just thinking about it made her breathing come out heavy with rage.

Tupac, who was still sprawled out on top of the Bi-plane, looked down in curiosity when he heard her breathing. His curious look quickly turned to concern. "Hey, are you ok?" he asked worriedly.

Amber clenched her beak shut and forced herself to calm down. "I'm fine," she said lowly.

The brown-necked raven didn't believe it for a millisecond but decided to leave the subject alone. "Europe is only a mile away, so I estimate nine more minutes till we are above land again."

By now, Amber had calmed down but she held a tired tone, "Where are we supposed to land?"

"In Germany."

Amber held back a groan and settled with a long sigh. That brought back too many memories for her liking. She had done a lot of traveling...though it wasn't always by will. "Tervel's in Germany?" She muttered under her breath, "Wonderful."

It was supposed to be sarcastic but Tupac answered anyway. "Yep, it is actually rather beautiful there, especially at night. The structures and lights make it look like a dream." Tupac sighed contently at the thought of seeing it again. "It is not Africa but...it is nice."

"So you're from Africa then?" Amber asked with a hint of inquisitiveness. All thoughts of Tervel had evaporated from her mind due to her spark of curiosity.

"North Africa," Tupac corrected pointedly.

"Flora was born there too I'm guessing."

The brown-necked raven grinned with his honey brown eyes sparkling at fond memories. "Ah, yes. We grew up in Africa together."

Out of curiosity, Amber found herself asking, "How'd you two meet?"

He was silent for moment before he said, "Do remember how we accidentally met out in the ocean?"

"Yeah," Amber growled. "You rammed right into me because you couldn't land straight even if you tried."

"Incorporate that into Africa. I was learning how to fly at the time and she happened to be right in my path," Tupac chuckled. "Ah yes, Flora was very sweet. Although she had nearly cried from the hit, she was more interested to see if I was injured or not." Amber listened intently as his voice grew softer as he reminisced in memories. "She had given me a 'halo of flowers' and insisted that I continue to wear it till all the flowers she had woven together died, which I did. She said it would make me feel better, which is adorable when I look back. I ended up visiting her frequently after that whenever I got to see her," he rambled. "We became good friends soon after. Best thing of my life, I will admit."

Amber was quiet in her thoughts, leaving Tupac to think about the past with quiet chuckles. The silver bird suddenly came to the realization that this was the most she ever heard about Flora's younger years. All she did know was that her sisters had constantly picked on her due to envy but that was basically it. Now here she was, with an old childhood friend of Flora's, learning just a little bit more about her. Amber almost felt offended that she had never been told any of it, especially something as innocent as that. She sighed and pushed that thought way.

She wasn't any better.

What had she said about her past? Hardly a thing, really. She was adopted and couldn't go to Las Vegas. That was it.

The commanding officer groaned quietly and made a wary promise that she would try and open up a little to her girls. Amber doubted that she would but yet she still made the silent promise. It wasn't the least she could do but it was something that she would do grudgingly. They were her girls but...she just didn't give them the full extent of her trust.

"Finally, land!" Tupac exclaimed. He flapped his aching wings and hopped off the plane. It shook from the force he used to push himself into the air, making Amber narrow her eyes in annoyance. "Oh, this feels great!" the raven said joyously as he spiraled in the air with his satchel miraculously staying on his shoulder.

Amber wasn't paying attention to him and simply looked over. True to his words, they were now flying over Europe, France to be exact. She struggled to remember the French language but came out with only a few words. It's been a while since she had last used the language. Besides English, she only understood some French and Spanish. To her, that sucked.

She felt bile burn her throat once she remembered that in less than an hour she would have to face Tervel. Anger that she expected to feel never came. Instead it was fear. Deep fear that made her quiver at her spot in the cockpit.

It was nonsense! She hadn't seen his ugly mug for far too many years that she would care to count. Why would she be afraid of...him? She wasn't afraid of anything! Maybe it's because he was the only one who knew about the majority of her life. Maybe it was because he could easily beat her. Maybe it was because she was chilled by his impassive attitude...

Maybe it was because he had scarred her so deeply that she was never the same again.

Amber then realized she was shaking uncontrollably with a possible sob threatening to come about. No, no...She couldn't face him. Not yet at least. She had to build up the nerve. There was an obstacle blocking her from Tervel and that was her own overwhelming fear.

"We're landing here," Amber stated with her voice stronger than she expected.

Tupac glided as close as he could so he was flapping just at the left side of the Bi-plane. "Can I ask why?" he asked with clear  
>confusion. "It would be easy and simple to keep going into Germany."<p>

"DON'T QUESTION ME!" she shouted with such a fiery rage that it caused Tupac to flinch, like he had just gotten burnt. Her anger was quickly extinguished and she was back to shivering in her seat.

The brown-necked raven nodded stiffly and said, "If that is what you wish." His wings picked up speed so he was a little ways ahead of her. Honestly, he didn't mind postponing their arrival, though for his own reasons, but he was curious as to why. Although, after that spark of pure undirected fury, he wasn't going to question much less mention it. "There is a good spot," Tupac said as he jerked his head to a clump of green that might've once been a very large forest.

Amber nodded and clicked her tongue. Her mood was taking drastic changes so she tried to conceal it as much as possible.

Not off to a great start.

The silver bird brought the bi-plane downwards, though she quickly realized something. "Sweet salmon, I don't know how to land this stupid thing!"

Tupac's eyes widened and he dived after the plane. "Well try something!" he hollered.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Amber snapped as she pushed various buttons, sending artillery flying. Panic did nothing to help her focus, so she did not realize that she could easily straighten out the course of the Bi-plane. Instead, she was left pressing and pulling on everything visible. She pressed something and a compartment opened up. She looked inside and smirked. "Well hello..."

No matter how hard Tupac flapped his wings he just couldn't catch up to the plane. "Abort already!" he shouted. They could always find a way to ditch the plane instead of Amber dying! His eyes widened when the yellow aircraft crashed into the tops of the trees but still rapidly reaching the bottom of the ground. "No, no, no," he muttered underneath his breath and continued downwards. However, just as he reached the tops of the trees, a loud crash resonated.

Right there Tupac could've sworn his body went rigid and froze right on the spot. Hastily, he came down, only to tumble onto the ground. The raven shook his feathers and looked up at the wreck mournfully. The forceful and swift collision to a large tree had utterly destroyed the entire World War toy aircraft. There was no way Amber could've survived that kind of impact. Even if she did it would give her great injuries, possibly paralyzing her. He didn't particularly enjoy Amber's company but he found himself respecting her for the subtle things, not that he'd dare admit it in fear of getting shot with another grenade.

"Oh Amber," he sighed and shook his head. "She went out the way she lived... stubborn."

"I'm still alive, thank you very much," came a familiar sarcastic voice.

Tupac's head whipped up and he was greeted with the sight of Amber, who was still wearing those shades, dangling from a tree with a parachute strapped to her back. It had classically gotten stuck in the branches, keeping her suspended above the wreck. A wide grin spread across his beak as he flew up to her. Despite the fact that she was scowling at him, he found himself sighing in relief.

"I thought you were up in the heavens," Tupac admitted and smiled light heartedly.

"Cut the chatter and help me down! I feel ridiculous."

The honey-eyed raven watched as she unclipped herself from the pack. When she came falling he caught her by the shoulders. The sudden weight change made him grunt in surprise but there was otherwise no problem. His strong wings steadily brought them down but, like usual, they ended up in a collapsed heap on the leaf covered ground.

"Work on that landing," Amber told him with little to no subtly. She stood up and brushed the dead leaves from her feathers, grimacing at the splotches of dirt and mud. "Great, I'm a mess," she grumbled sarcastically. She loathed getting her feathers dirty or having one out of place.

"Apologies." Tupac picked himself up and looked himself over, peering into his satchel. He once again sighed in relief when he saw everything was in place in his messenger bag. He turned his attention to the flightless bird beside him, disguising his amused smile when she tried to wipe away the dirty particles on her feathers, only succeeding in smearing it.

Amber looked up at him with a glare. "I blame you," she said lowly.

Tupac shrugged sheepishly. "I am sorry." Attempting to be nice, he commented, "Do not worry, it looks good."

Sarcastically, Amber said with the rolling of her eyes, "Well, of course it does. Nothing says beauty like dirt!"

"It makes for good camouflage."

"Not my point."

"I never said it was," he stated pointedly and hopped onto a rock. Before she could retort he said aloud, "Now, I suggest we hobble on down to Germany before our time limit is up. If we do not then I fear the consequences towards your team and other friends."

Amber raised a non-existent brow, an almost amused half-smile on her face, and snorted, "Hobble?"

He sighed. "Again, all that you have extracted?"

"Try to loosen up, alright?" Amber flipped onto a lower rock, lifting the shades higher in place over her eyes as she gazed at their surroundings.

Tupac was the one to raise a brow. "You are telling me to loosen up?" he questioned and joined her on the stone. "No offence," he added quickly.

Amber suddenly stiffened. "We got to move."

"What? Wh-?" He was rudely interrupted when Amber shoved him, forcing him to move.

"Trust me," she whispered, though it came out more as a hiss. "Something's watching us..."

Somewhere back, approximately three miles, was the pursing plane that occupied Flora.

The brown-feathered penguin sighed and slumped in the cockpit of the bi-plane. Hours of non-stop flight was not only boring but tiring. It could've been the sun or the lack of activity but Flora found herself falling asleep. There was nothing to do really but head for a straight line toward Europe. Her mind could only keep her occupied for so long without anything to actually do. All there was were miles of ocean and sky, which wasn't all that interesting. The downside was that there wasn't anyone to talk to, so that left her thinking about things she wouldn't normally think of. Most of it revolved around her introspection of her friendship with her, well, friends.

Unfortunately, since she had no company, she was either having a one-sided conversation with herself or recording her surroundings.

"Well," Flora began, speaking into the recorder she had brought along as a log for the entire trip and mission. "I see a lot ocean...still. And yeah, there are some clouds. They're...poofy and...cloud shaped. The sun is kind of-AH! It burns!" Flora saw colorful spots in her vision every time she blinked. She was so bored and tired that she forgot how stupid it was to look at the sun. That said a lot. "The sun is very bright," she chuckled but ended with a long sigh.

_'Oi. What am I doing? Stuck flying over the ocean with nothing to do but destroy my vision by staring up at the sun? Might as well go snorkeling with sharks while I'm at it.'_

"This log is supposed to be for a mission file but since there's nothing better to do..." she mumbled, "I guess I'll speak what's on my mind. First off, I'm having a hard time wrapping around the concept of emotions again. I don't see why Amber dislikes Tupac so much, even if she doesn't really like anyone else. After all, he is my friend so doesn't that get him an all clear...or something? I don't know." She gripped the bridge of her beak with closed eyes as she breathed. "Then there's Kowalski," she faltered and stopped right there.

He had been acting weird ever since Tupac came. Maybe he just didn't like Tupac either? No, he wouldn't take it out on her. Now that she thought about it, Kowalski had successfully avoided the raven during the time Tupac stayed there and seemed to be only bitter towards her. Flora didn't understand it, which frustrated her immensely.

She noticed there had been a long silence and started to speak again.

"Second of all...I'm beginning to question my relations to Amber, Sara and Madison. I know I should have more faith in them, though I already have my full trust in them, but...we don't really know much about each other. What we do know is very little, now that I think about it. We have never spoken of what happened in our past and that concerns me. Actually, Sara doesn't remember anything really and Madison can't talk even if she wanted to tell us...I know I wouldn't want to talk about it either. Perhaps it's as simple as that. We just don't want to talk about it."

Flora knew fully well that Amber had done some bad things in the past, she just didn't know what. The same thing went for Madison but Sara...she assumed some knock to the head had wiped out most of her memories, which none should have been all that bad.

"All I really know..." Flora began again slowly. "Is their behavior and basic likes and dislikes. Otherwise...they are a mystery. I don't know their motives or what they have decided to keep secret, obviously. I know very little about them and I rather not draw my own conclusions. Is it safe to say I know them if I just knew their favorite color or their favorite past times?"

It was disturbing to begin to question your closest friends, Flora realized. Guilt caused her to frown and her despairing eyes to drop lower. She deeply desired someone to talk to or anything to occupy her time, just something to take her mind off these thoughts.

Unfortunately there was nothing of the sort.

"I can't believe what I'm doing...I know darn well that Amber doesn't want anyone to follow her. Yet here I am, pursuing after her because I don't want to say goodbye to Tupac and that I want to help and protect my leader," she rambled. Flora ended with another sigh and frowned. "What I wouldn't give to understand everything that's going on right now. Why does everything need to be so complicated anyway?"

Frustration pounded against her head in an annoying metronome. Being unable to comprehend something irritated Flora to unknown ends. She was a scientist, a rational thinker. The thought of not being able to understand it all did numbers on her.

"Whatever the consequences may be, I know that Amber's going to need someone she trusts to rely on. Tupac isn't someone of the sort she would want to interact with, much less see, so I consider myself the only option. Is it not my duty to protect her?"

_'I'm not just her teammate, I'm her friend.'_

Flora breathed in deeply, inhaling the salty smell of the ocean. It was a pleasant and soothing smell. It relaxed her muscles and helped her brain's thoughts come to a halt. Peace and sanctuary was something she always appreciated but right now it seemed better than ever before. Maybe it was because she was so stressed.

The flower loving penguin suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when she saw the quickly approaching coast of Europe.

"I've finally reached Europe, without a night's sleep I might add, so not so bad on my part. My main objective is to locate Amber and Tupac before they reach their destination that is still in progress. Wish me luck," she added pointlessly and clicked the recorder off. "I really wish Kowalski was here right now," she mumbled and looked to the side again.

Flora kept her eyes on the scenery below her, occasionally looking up to see if she would by chance fly into something. A few minutes of this passed before something caught her eye. She blinked in surprise and leaned over a bit. "What the-?"

There was a somewhat vast occupation of trees, standing out from buildings that were a couple of miles away and the port nearby. There was a section of broken trees that had gotten her curious, though she knew it must've been something man made due to the damage. Out of all the odds, she was both hoping that it was and wasn't the same plane Amber had taken that had inflicted this damage.

Only one way to find out.

Bringing in the plane was half the trouble but landing proved to be a bit more of a challenge. Flora managed to do that with a fair amount of ease but ended up crushing a wide expanse of plant life in the process.

She gasped. "Oh, why did I even _land_ here?" Flora mentally slapped herself from ruining the plant life, considering it a terrible offense to Mother Nature. Anyone that knew her thought that her feelings toward plants were ridiculous, most of them at least. Amber even considered it her inevitable downfall, though Flora scoffed and dismissed it despite the surprisingly high chances of it.

The brown feathered penguin hopped out of the plane, cringing when she stepped onto a particularly lovely piece of nature. She sighed, forced herself to dismiss it as low priority and quickly jogged towards the destroyed portion of the forest, attempting to be as discreet as possible if there was to be people around. Yes, penguins were everywhere, if you counted Zoo's, but it'd be strange to see one wandering the forest.

Flora peeked over from behind a tree with her eyes widening with surprise. It was not what she had expected to see.

"I-It's...it's destroyed," she stuttered and brought a flipper over her beak. "Oh my..." The sight of the destroyed Bi-plane made Flora sick to her core.

_'Was Amber...?'_ Flora couldn't bring herself to finish the thought.

"The chances of surviving that are highly unlikely," she mumbled. "But the chances of her finding a way of escaping are just as likely..." The scholar penguin trailed off as she looked around with bittersweet hope. A frown edged itself on her expression when she came up with nothing.

No. There had to be something.

Then she saw it. The parachute.

Flora didn't know how to react when she caught sight of it. The first thing that came to mind was upmost joy and the urge to jump and down. So she did just that, adding in a little spontaneous dance afterwards. She was thrilled that Amber was alive, proof being the released parachute that was still stuck in the branches.

"Then they must be close…" Flora murmured with realization. She was fully aware that she had been but a few miles behind them. With that thought, Flora rushed to the plane she had been previously flying and attempted to start it up.

It didn't.

"Oh, well, that's just great," she mumbled sarcastically and continually tried to start it up. "C'mon, c'mon," she pleaded, yet it didn't start up. "Cheap toy fabrication companies! What does it take to get decent flying and fully armed toys these days?" Flora sighed, trying desperately not to get frustrated. "Whatever! It'd be easier to look for them on foot anyway!"

The scientist decided she would bring what was necessary, leaving everything else in the plane, though all she ended up taking was her recorder. Mumbling to herself about manufactured item's quality, she started to waddle through the forest, brushing past leaves and stepping over stones in search of her friends.

All she had to do was find Amber and Tupac. How hard could that be?

A few miles behind and underwater was a submarine that propelled speedily through the water in a pursuit of its own. Inside was Skipper, wearing his captain's cap, and his men Private and Rico, who wearing their sailor hats.

"Boys, when we get to Europe I refuse to go anywhere near Denmark," Skipper announced from his seat in the middle of the submarine and stared at the ocean through the glass. A school of fish caught his attention, only briefly, and he looked back out. "Rico, giant rock, right there."

Rico laughed nervously, having been too busy thinking of swimming schools of fish, and avoided the close collision. "Sorry."

Private looked up from his post, the radar, and at his leader. Referring to the earlier statement, Private asked, "Why's that Skippah?"

"Because those Danes might recognize me!"

"...but what about the girls and Kowalski?"

From his position at the wheel, Rico grunted, "Yeah, yeah!"

Skipper groaned. "I know! But do you know the blinding chaos that would ensure if someone recognizes me? There will be destruction everywhere! I can't risk that!" The thought of those Danes finally getting their revenge sent a disturbed feeling throughout his body, making him cringe at the paranoid scenarios of his wildest dreams. '_Don't think about the bisquick and oil_…'

Private was doubtful. "Skippah, I don't think anyone will recognize you from Denmark."

"It's not just Denmark, Private! Mustached French people, pita bread eating Italians and fjord-loving sons of Vikings! All of them would recognize my rugged good looks a mile away. Do you know what they'd do to me?" Upon receiving a shake of the head, Skipper exclaimed, "I'll be on the cover of a cookbook, stuffed up with an apple in my mouth! You know I hate apples! Granted, I'd be great with soy sauce, but I'm not going down like that! Maybe by some peanut butter winkie apocalypse…"

The young cadet looked at his leader with a befuddled expression. "So if you don't want to be near them, then why are we-?"

"-Simple, young Private," Skipper interrupted. "We never leave one of our own behind!"

"But what about-"

Skipper groaned. "Do we have to go over this again? Comparatively, few penguins are left behind!"

Rico rolled his eyes and hummed.

There was silence till Private once again decided to start asking questions.

"What do you think of Tupac, Skippah?" the young cadet asked curiously.

The commanding officer had a far quicker response then Private had thought. "I don't trust the guy! He's part of some whacked out conspiracy, I know it. How can you trust a raven like that?"

Private had the brilliant idea of questioning the true intentions behind the distrust. "Are you sure you aren't just jealous of him?"

"_What?"_

"Well, you didn't seem very happy when you saw Tupac and Amber together," the young penguin admitted, though he didn't know the reason behind it was because Amber was giving off some threats to the bird. Still, from their view point, they were pretty close together.

Rico chuckled and sent Skipper a sly look. He let out a string of garbled words that only his team seemed to understand, resulting in Skipper's brow lowering.

Skipper looked beyond the point of flustered and glared at his two teammates. "I AM NOT JEALOUS OF THAT ACENTED BIRD!" he hollered with his voice amplified in the confined space of the submarine.

This only got Private to giggle and for Rico to laugh even harder. All he did simply confirmed their suspicions.

"I'm paranoid of him is all!" Skipper insisted when they continued to laugh. "He probably is some kind of door to door salesman that was hired by Blowhole to get on the inside and steal our brains! No, he would disintegrate them! That's his thing."

Private looked at his leader doubtfully. "I think he's just Flora's old friend, doing his job by giving everyone their letters."

The paranoid avian scoffed. "Yeah right! That's just what he wants to believe. I'm betting my thimble collection that he is actually some gut eating alien from another world!"

"That seems a bit farfetched Skippah."

He looked at Private with a raised brow. "Oh really? Farfetched? Space squids are farfetched, killer ninja bunnies are farfetched, a possessed cheese loaf that destroys planets is farfetched. But it happened anyway!"

"…fair point."

"So it's decided, Tupac is really a brain sucking alien! Flora must be too…how else would she know him?" Skipper's eye widened. "Sweet dandy candy, it's all a whacked out conspiracy! I KNEW IT! Kowalski's been dating an alien!" He jumped up from his seat, flapping his flippers about wildly. "EVERYTHING I KNOW IS A LIE!"

Private rushed away from the radar and set his leader back down. "Skippah, please, you couldn't have chosen a worse time to go completely bonkers! Flora and Tupac are not aliens," he said slowly.

Skipper looked at his soldier skeptically. "Oh really Private?" He stood back up, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "That's just what an alien would want you to think. They've gotten to you already! The alien is already attached to his brain!" the avian cried out and shook Private by the shoulders. "Don't worry, I'll get it out!" He whipped out a frying pan and attempted to smack it on the young bird's head.

Private shrieked as he dodged and started to run away and hide behind anything he could find. "Skippah, I'm not an alien!"

"LIES!"

"It's not a lie!"

"YOU'RE A LIE!"

"That doesn't even make any sense!"

Rico sighed and hacked up a pair of headphones and placed it over his head. He looked into the distance as he listened to the music playing, tuning out the other penguins. Suddenly, he smiled and started to contently hum along, steering the submarine as Skipper chased Private with a frying pan.

At least a certain Bi-plane a few miles ahead was more peaceful. The same one Kowalski was operating and the same one that Madison and Sara were desperately trying to hang onto. It could've been worse.

Breathing labored, Madison struggled to keep a hold on the grappling hook line. By now, her flipper was numb and her shoulders ached. Her breathing came in short, quick gasps from the exertion. It had been hours out at sea and she should've dropped into the ocean by then but she was stubbornly determined to keep a firm hold. That alone was impressive.

No words that Sara said could've possibly helped Madison. She watched pitifully with such empathy that it made her hurt as well, like she was sharing the pain and burden. The young bird tried to help her aggressive friend as much as possible but all attempts only made it worse. She settled for not moving at all. Still, Madison struggled and she didn't look like she could go on any longer.

Kowalski tried to speed up the plane as much as possible, though it was already at its max speed, when he noticed this. He wasn't sure how the mute bird would do if she was to suddenly collapse into the ocean with Sara but he didn't think it was good, due to her exhaustion and possible foot injury. Not to mention how he would have to get to them as well. The only factor was the density of water from this height. If they were to fall, it'd be like falling onto a thick slab of dried concrete.

"Just hold on a little longer," Kowalski whispered. A blinking light then caught his attention.

Kowalski had made some significant changes to the planes and a fuel gauge was one of them. In this case, a battery gauge. The thing was that the gauge was on empty. His eyes widened.

"Oh no..." The strategist looked up and put a flipper over his eyes, blocking the sun and creating a shadow over his irises. In the distance, very faintly, he believed he saw land. A thankful sigh escaped his beak. Then he remembered the situation when the engine sputtered. He looked over the edge of the Bi-plane and called out, "Sara?"

"Yes?" she shouted back, looking up to meet his eyes with a worried expression.

"We may have a...tiny..._barely_ significant problem..."

Sara's eyes grew far larger than Kowalski thought was possible. She identified his tone. It was not a small problem. "What does that mean?"

"We're...out of fuel," he confessed with a sigh. Technically, they were out of battery power.

"What?" she shrieked, making Madison flinch. No one appreciated being yelled in the earhole.

Kowalski decided not to respond and prepared himself for the upcoming disaster. He watched with fearful anticipation as the plane's propeller slowly stopped spinning. "Oh good golly..."

The Bi-plane abruptly started to plummet toward the ocean, making Kowalski grip the edges of the cockpit tightly as his heart thumped widely in his chest. The wind seemed to whip his face from the speed, causing his eyes to water. A shriek of terror threatened to erupt from his beak but he wanted to keep his pride. Briefly, he was confused when he heard a shout of either agony or relief followed by a long scream that was abruptly cut off. When the strategist shakily looked to the side, he realized that Madison and Sara were no longer holding onto the grappling hook. In fact, he didn't seem them at all.

The scientist didn't have time to dwell on it.

He quickly realized his position and, with a high pitched scream, jumped out of the Bi-plane. Kowalski's flippers failed about helplessly as he splashed into the salty water with the plane crashing into the dark ocean seconds after him. His body propelled through the water like a torpedo, air bubbles and water moving through the contours of his feathers easily. A sudden shape hastily went past him, causing Kowalski to let out a bubble of surprise. The valuable air quickly rushed upwards, catching his eye. The strategist swam to the surface, following the bubble's example, and tried to ignore the fact something might be chasing after him.

When Kowalski broke through the surface of water, he inhaled deeply for some air. His flipper instinctively covered his face when water sprayed out from the shape that had emerged beside him. His first instinct was to attack but he recognized his target to be Sara.

She sputtered and coughed on water she had accidentally swallowed but greedily took gulps of the precious of air.

"Oh Sara, it's only you," Kowalski sighed and relaxed considerably.

Sara recovered and allowed Kowalski to check her over. It was then that a thought hit her hard.

"Madison!" Sara shrieked. Her head whipped to Kowalski, startling the taller bird. "Where is she?"

Kowalski's eyed widened. He didn't have the foggiest idea and, after he quickly looked around them, he realized that the mute bird wasn't there at all.

"Madison!" Sara wailed with tears starting to come down from her eyes. Her flippers splashed the water frantically as she swam in a circle, desperate to catch sight of her friend. "No, no, no! She isn't dead!" the young bird denied and started to sob.

The scholar penguin hesitantly swam toward hysterical female. "The probability that she-"

Infuriated suddenly at the penguin beside her, Sara shouted, "No! She's not dead!" Rare fury lit up in her teal colored eyes that cowed Kowalski. "Don't you dare say anything about her!" Abruptly, Sara dived down into the water in search of her missing friend.

Kowalski blinked in surprise but quickly pushed it aside and tried to ignore a large pulsating guilt building up inside of him. He made quick progress to the crash site and, once he did, he cringed. The entire Bi-plane had broken apart with some of its parts already sinking further into the ocean. Thankfully, since it relied on a battery, there was no oil, which encouraged Kowalski to go further toward the wreck. He pushed some parts aside and groaned when he failed to locate any of his supplies or Madison. Taking a deep breath, Kowalski plunged his head into the water and flicked his eyes side to side in an attempt to catch sight of it or the missing female. All he saw was Sara swimming in fast streams and some metal parts getting swallowed up in the darker waters.

He was _not_ about to swim that deep to find his stuff.

Kowalski brought his head back up and wiped the water from his face. He made another sweep with his blue eyes for anything of use but came up short. However, something did grab his attention just before he gave up. Cautiously, he made slow movements with his flippers toward one of the four wings of the plane. A wide grin broke over his face as he let out a relieved cry. "Oh thank the maker!"

On the wing of the plane was a black mass that was known as Madison. She had swum up but, due to her growing weakness, simply clasped onto the wing as she tried to rest. Her eyes opened a crack and she offered a weak smile Kowalski's way before closing her eyes again.

Realizing how weak she was, Kowalski frowned. He paddled to the wing and eyed Madison in concern. Maybe he could push the wing towards land? He sighed and rested his head on his flipper that was propped on the metal. Sara and Madison's presence were going to make this drastically harder.

Sara.

Kowalski looked up and waited anxiously for her to surface. She did so only a few moments later. Before she could dive back down, Kowalski hollered, "Sara! I found Madison!"

The hysterical bird looked up with wide eyes in Kowalski's direction. A gasp passed through her beak and she flapped her fins around aimlessly in a frantic attempt to reach the wreck. Kowalski couldn't help but smile at how much she cared for her mute pal, even if they did fight every once in a while. Sara reached them with large, warm salty tears streaming from her eyes. Her sobbing continued when Madison tiredly opened an eye.

The hefty female, once again, offered a weak smile but kept watching Sara intently.

"You scared me to death!" Sara sobbed. "I thought you were dead and that I would never see you again!" Kowalski flinched when the young bird hit the back of Madison's head. "Don't you dare do that ever again!"

Strangely, Madison smirked and shakily reached out a flipper to her friend. Sara broke down further with all supposed anger washing away and rushed into the flipper. The appendage wrapped around her offered silent comfort. Madison closed her eyes and sighed as she tried to get some peace. She seemed strangely calm for once, unlike Sara, who was hysterically sobbing beside her sister figure.

Kowalski sighed and shook his head slightly. No matter how much he thought he knew about these girls, he was always surprised by one action. He came to a conclusion that they had different and hidden sides to them just like everyone else. He pushed these thoughts away and focused on the situation at hand.

"We got to keep moving," he reminded and looked around with deep paranoia that only Skipper seemed to be able to pull off. "There might be predators around. The crash might've scared them away but who knows when they'll be back, if there is to be any." Kowalski frowned deeply when he saw Sara look up at him with tear filled eyes. "It's ok, we'll be fine," he reassured. "There's a very high chance we will."

Sara didn't seem to believe him any more than he did with himself but nodded anyway. "Ok Kowalski... Sorry for snapping at you earlier," she apologized sincerely.

He quietly accepted her apology and instructed her to help him push the metal part. Madison was only partially on the wing, her head and flippers specifically, so they pushed her onto it, making her let out a pained squawk.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Sara apologized quickly.

Madison reacted by rolling her eyes and snorting with annoyance. Yup, she was back again, attitude and all.

Kowalski and Sara then began the tedious task of swimming while pushing the metal wing in the direction of land. Madison had fallen unconscious by this point, leaving Sara and Kowalski the rare chance to talk. Honestly, Kowalski really only spoke to Flora but Amber was a close enough follow up. It was relieving to talk to someone that understood his 'big words' like Flora but it was pleasant to talk to someone as sugarcoated as Sara...sometimes.

It could be frustrating.

"Well, wouldn't it be easier to tell the truth?" Sara asked him.

The conversation had taken all kinds of turns till it wound up about if it was better to lie or to tell the truth. Obviously, the two had different opinions.

Kowalski shook his head. "When the proper situation arises, it's necessary to tell lies."

"But that just makes leads to more lies and causes a lot of pain and trouble. Sometimes the most heartbreaking of truths are better than the most sweetest of lies."

This left Kowalski in silence to ponder these words.

Sara piped up suddenly in a quiet and compassionate voice, "Will Madison be ok?" She was eyeing her friend worriedly. The thought of not having Madison or the other girls seemed too unreal and awful to consider.

"Yes. She will be," Kowalski promised and attempted to reassure Sara with a smile, though it was forced. "What we need to do now is hurry on up to Europe, got it?"

The young bird nodded stiffly. "G-get to E-Europe. Got it."

They wallowed in silence after that. The only sounds were the lap of the ocean and the sound of their webbed feet paddling through the salty water, along with the occasional 'caw' of an albatross or random seagull. There wasn't much else to see but some ocean and the occasional bird, though land was steadily coming closer, approximately five miles away.

"What on Earth is that?" Sara spoke up suddenly, catching Kowalski's attention.

Kowalski tried to catch what Sara was looking at. "Where?"

The teal-eyed penguin pointed at a dark spot that was many meters away from them.

Straining his eyes, Kowalski squinted at the spot with the sun not proving to be of any help. '_Shape...rapidly increasing speed...size...oh no._' "Sara, get on the wing," he instructed sternly but hastily.

"But-"

"Get on the wing!"

Sara noticed his tone and fearfully scrambled onto the wing with Kowalski following. It was difficult to stay on due to waves and lack of room. They ended up using each other for support just to stay on.

"What is it?" she squeaked and clung to Kowalski desperately, all the while avoiding coming in contact with their unconscious friend. She saw the shape speeding towards them with a gray point beginning to come up to the surface.

Kowalski held onto Sara to not only steady himself but to protect her. He swallowed thickly but held a scowl. "Shark."

* * *

><p><strong>Why do I love cliffhangers so much? XP<strong>

**I decided I won't make stories on my girls past but would give snippets of it instead. Have fun putting all those pieces together! Ah, I love puzzles…**

**YES! I got a laptop! Finally, a computer of my own! It's a dream come true! *Cue magical singing angels* Seriously though, pretty cool to have something actually functioning properly for once! Oh yeah, seriously apologize for my lack of updating, especially on my other stories. Inspiration has been blocked but I'm getting it done... agonizingly slow. Well, at least this is a long chapter. **

**Thanks for the patience and please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

The cold dark waters of the ocean were suddenly more dangerous and foreboding as the lurking presence of the fatal predator loomed closer to the supposedly doomed penguins. Its movements were deliberate, as if it wanted to frighten its prey before it sprung its sharp, toothy attack.

Whatever calmness Kowalski was pretending he had vanished when he saw the black, beady eyes of the shark. What the creature was and its capabilities finally sunk into the scientist, and he reacted like how most people would. "IT'S A SHARK!" he wailed and became hysterical while he held Sara as if his life depended on it. "WE'RE GUNNA DIE! SOMEONE GET MY MAMA! MAMA!" His screaming was abruptly cut off by a slap from a flipper.

"Kowalski, stop it, you're scaring me!" Sara shouted with moon sized eyes, attempting to sound stern, and pushed him off with a statement of encouragement. "Be a man and do something!" She shoved him forward when he tried to use her as a shield yet again. "You can do it!" she cheered, little to no faith in the statement.

The overly emotional penguin nodded his head, trying to compose himself. "You're right," he agreed quietly, "I can do this; I can do this." He got into a fighting stance with a new invigorated feeling. His expression lapsed when the shark was only a meter away, quickly raising itself from the water. Kowalski was suddenly a quivering pile of feathers again. "I CAN'T DO THIS! AHH!" He put his flippers over his head and kicked his foot out defensively, connecting sharply with another surface. The impact caused him to stumble back, but Sara managed to catch him from behind. Kowalski was immensely surprised when he realized that he had unintentionally kicked the water predator when it made a jump for them.

With a yelp, it crashed into the cold waters, splashing the terrified penguins and soaking them. It immediately disappeared into the depths of the ocean, not bothering to show its ugly scarred mug again.

A disturbing quiet settled in. The ocean's crashing waves seemed to cease and the cool air dropped low to just a bare whisper. All was completely still, far too quiet then what they would've preferred. The silence was more chilling than the actual noise, it's deaf sound giving a sinister atmosphere. Only a few seconds of this went by till anything was said.

Sara clicked her tongue. "Well, that was anti-climactic."

"Yes, I guess that was a bit easier than expected," Kowalski mused skeptically and turned back to Sara, expression equally perplexed. He was drastically calmer from the endeavor, but was still in the process of getting his heartbeat back to normal. "Maybe it swam away and doubled ba- OH SWEET MAMA!"

Sara had just a second to look behind her to see the shark's jaws coming right for them. It was natural instinct, but she jumped and shot an uppercut at it's under jaw with accuracy. None too surprisingly, the shark repeated its earlier actions and fell right back into the cold ocean. This time however, it circled the piece of metal, its dorsal fin and shadow being the only indicator of where it was. The fin sliced through the water, sending vast ripples that rocked the piece of metal.

Kowalski had wide eyes as he watched the shark's movements before he turned his gaze to Sara. Her eyes were the size of dinner plates, and she was breathing rapidly out of anxiety and fear. Sharp teeth, she was not a fan. The strategist tried to formulate some kind of rational plan or idea, but his usual analytical brain had come to a startling halt. This fear had given him a mind block, so he decided to rely on something he rarely used. Instinct.

For him, that meant ad-libbing.

"Hey you overgrown fish!" Kowalski shouted and waved his flippers frantically for a response. The shark's circles began to slow, indicating that he had earned its attention. "How about you take a bite out of this?" The strategist then set to shaking his tail feathers tauntingly in the shark's direction. "Some farm fresh Kowalski! Juicy, plump, and good dark meat ratio!"

The predator's beady eyes narrowed, and it circled the metal one more time before disappearing under the water again. It was quiet for just a second longer, but the silence was quickly precluded. The aquatic predator suddenly lunged out of the ocean again, going straight for Kowalski. He acted just as quickly and ducked down. Once the shark was in the calculated distance he kicked with all the force he could muster at its nose. His fear was jolted right out of his system when he saw the shark collapse into the ocean, paralyzed in the waters. Defeated and shuddering irately, it slowly swam away, trying to comprehend what had just transpired. Kowalski took the moment to absorb what just happened also.

Sara, however, was ready to reward her unlikely defender. "Oh thank you Kowalski!" Teal orbs sparkled admiringly as she gushed and latched onto him in a tight hug, unintentionally suffocating him. "I thought we were dead, but you were all like, BAM! And WAPOW!" She dislodged herself from him and re-enacted what she believed to have happened with rapid gesticulations. The broken metal wing rocked in the water as she moved, resulting in Madison's awakening.

She snorted awake and looked around, dazed and confused. She immediately noticed Sara and offered an exasperated expression to her friend's motions. Her look to Kowalski asked an explanation on what was going on.

"_I_ just fended off a shark," he stated, obviously feeling rather self-important. He put his flippers on his sides in a pose of 'heroic' stature. However, Sara objected to his statement, which made an entertaining scene for Madison to watch.

"_I_ helped," the thin and short penguin stated pointedly, giving Kowalski a side-way glance. "I gave a good uppercut, _so I helped_."

Kowalski scoffed. "I don't know if that's really _helping _per say-"

Sara narrowed her eyes. "_Kowalski_," she drawled threateningly, something the girls seemed to do a lot when they were mad or disapproved of something. "Watch it." Apparently deciding he wasn't worth her annoyance, she offered a tired sideways glare. After all, what was a scientist without pride and arrogance?

Madison snickered at Kowalski's expense, but winced at the effort; the snicker soon melted into a scowl. In her unplanned nap, she'd forgotten her throbbing limbs. Hanging on to a speeding plane and colliding with a wall feet-first did that to you.

"Let's just get this thing moving before more sharks come," Kowalski grumbled. The scientist gently eased himself into the water, followed by the smaller penguin, and then kicked his feet to propel the metal wing forward once again. They might've been close to shore, but it was still going to take a while just because of Madison's current state. During this time, he entertained himself with possible invention ideas.

Sara, on the other flipper, found nothing of entertainment, so she was left to her thoughts. Her thought process would flicker like candlelight in focus, because everything that brushed near her feet felt like another shark. She was wary and cautious but somewhat optimistic as well. After all, they were closing in on Europe and soon she would be reunited with her closest friends, and they could all have an adventure back home. Of course, this was how she saw it but deep down, Sara knew it wouldn't be that easy-nothing ever was.

She dwelled on in her flighty thoughts that were unusually dark and depressing. It all circled back to her missing comrades. Were they alright? Did they get into any trouble? Have they encountered any deathly obstacles? Situations like these she felt helpless with. After all, what could she do? Sara was very concerned and anxious about it, and she couldn't help but whimper at the thought of losing even one of her friends. They all meant just so much to her…

An hour of tired paddling passed by without many interruptions, and the only problem was Madison's deep breathing evolving into a light snore. Somehow, they finally reached the beginning of France, lack of silence and all. Kowalski and Sara did a final mighty heave and the wing was finally out of distance from the cold, bubbly waves. Every time the waves retreated from the hot sand, little bubbles came from indents of homes for small, orange crabs. Kowalski opted to look at it more closely out of scientific curiosity, while Sara, self-appointed as his new focus compass, told him they had a job to do.

"Fine," Kowalski sighed, disappointment evident in his tone. He shook Madison more roughly than warranted, only to be hit with her killer left hook. "OW!" he cried as he fell onto the stinging warm sand. He rubbed the sore spot and watched with contempt as Madison sat up, the source of his aching beak. "Was that even necessary?!" his question rising to a shout.

Madison shrugged in his direction, flashing him a mischievous grin. This made him consider if it had been a reflex, or a deliberate action. The cap donned penguin began to stand, but she yelped and fell back down, cradling her orange webbed feet. It was a rude awakening to realize that her feet pained her just as much as before. The mute bird had honestly thought she'd be better by now but apparently she was not.

Kowalski, by this time, had gotten back up to his feet and noticed Madison's pain almost instantly. Sara was hovering over her, looking and feeling helpless. The braniac extended a flipper out to his recent beak bruiser.

Now, you see, the problem with Madison was her pride. Most anything (and everything, really) she had ever attempted to do in her life, she'd done alone—help was for the weak, succumbing to having to ask for assistance in anything was stupid… She was proud of being able to do most anything she wanted alone.

So it was no surprise when she slapped his flipper away and made a guttural noise at the back of her forever damaged throat. She quickly stopped the noise and scowled half-heartedly at the scientist that was cradling his flipper, even if it lacked any sort of actual damage.

"You need some help up," he told her insistently, a small sigh of exasperation slipping through his breaths. "You can't walk in this state."

Sara half-smiled at her stubborn friend. "~It'd be better for you, ~" she added in a sing-song voice. She hoped that, for once, her mute companion would listen to them. Often times she felt jealous and annoyed when Madison would only respond and act to Amber's orders and not to theirs. It couldn't be helped; it must've been some sort of respect thing or a dog and master relationship, maybe the knowledge that someone was physically and mentally superior to her. Still, Sara was envious but she rarely made this noticed, settling for looking annoyed instead. Despite her soothing urge for Madison to compel to their wishes, her friend wouldn't budge from her spot.

Madison snorted, one to disagree, and sat back up on her rump. She took a deep breath before trying to stand up again, only to give a pathetic whimper when she fell back, massaging her feet. She was bitter about this actually. It seemed that it was always her getting injured, aside from Kowalski, and it bugged her more than most would realize. She swore she had bad luck or someone upstairs had a personal vendetta against her or something. Losing her voice, getting a scar on her flipper and stomach, being in this big mess instead of watching the MMA championship, and now this?

She was surprised, and shook out of her bitter thoughts when Kowalski suddenly scooped her up into his flippers. She imagined they had been talking about what to do with her when she had been nursing her injured feet. Unsurprisingly, she growled and shoved at Kowalski's face to get him to put her down. It wasn't just about pride anymore, this felt plain embarrassing!

Sara was watching from aside, trying not giggle at the display. It was funny to see others get the rear end of Madison's attitude. Yet she knew that Madison could only do so much to show how she cared for the ones she actually liked. Sara was thankful that she, herself, knew how to express and channel her emotions. It could become very handy if she gave the attention. As she observed the actions of her two comrades, she wondered just how much self-control they had. She'd pay attention to that.

"Good golly, you're heavier than you look," he wheezed. He was promptly smacked over the back of his head by Madison; he totally deserved it. You never joked about a woman's weight. "Now don't make this harder for us!" Kowalski said through her shoving flippers. "I've carried Rico when he was going loco for pink, glittery marshmallow kittens, I can handle you, no question!"

Suddenly interested in a potential story, Madison stopped attacking him and Sara looked to him with interest, much like a child to a wise elder. "Oh, can we hear about it?" she asked, skipping ahead when he struggled to get over a small rotting log. She offered her help and steadied him as he tried to get to the other side, both cringing as insects of all sorts crept up their bodies from the decomposing stump.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," Kowalski admitted, secretly thrilled to tell of his own accomplishments, to reminisce and to laugh about old missions, even if it was one of the most disturbing ones. He adjusted to Madison's weight, feeling of discomfort mutual, before he began again. "It started when we were doing a raid at a local candy store…"

Not far away from the troubled trio's location was a noisy display of plants being thrown aside and ripped apart across the damp and muddy floor, littered with old leaves and dead plants from stomping feet. Bushes were pushed aside when, finally, a familiar shape emerged from one.

Tupac bustled out of the array of orange bushes and looked from side to side at his surroundings, speculating on what to do next. He grinned upon noticing a city in the distance, possibly a mile away. "Amber, look, there is-Amber? Where are you?" The brown necked raven glanced back in time to see the silver penguin thrust her way through the bushes. Some delicate pieces of nature were stuck to her head and stomach, much to her own chagrin.

"AH, NATURE! It's all over me!" Amber protested and batted the sticky leaves away with displeasure.

An amused half-smile appeared on the raven's beak. "Did you not use to live outside all the time?"

"It was Antarctica!" the irked flightless bird spat as she pointedly tramped past him. "It didn't have trees and these stupid leaves and plants." She gave him a look, hardly giving a second thought as to where she was going. "I'm just not used to all this-" Her sentence was abruptly cut off when she crashed face first into a tree, sliding down like a limp noddle onto her stomach.

Tupac cringed at the scene and hopped to her side, laying a gentle wing on her arched back. "Are you alright?"

Amber instantly stood back up, trying to retain her dignity. "Well, that sure is a funny place to put a tree," she said and gave him an awkward glance. She coughed and scowled at the ground as if it was the cause.

"In the middle of a forest?" Tupac smirked.

"Exactly, they should have a sign or something!"

He couldn't help the chuckle that rumbled at the back of his throat. He found it amusing how she tried to play it off with a joke, though he decided not to press his luck with another remark, seeing as she was smiling for once. "Ok, so if we go catch a ride to Germany, perhaps a truck, then we can probably reach it in, let's say, a day. Sounds easy enough, right?"

Amber laughed nervously, suddenly appearing a different kind of awkward. "Oh yeah, easy. Be there…in Germany…in one day…" She let out an involuntary sigh. "Totally great," she mumbled sarcastically. '_Good job, Amber. Oi, work on your acting skills for crying out loud!_' Her dark autumn gold eyes hesitantly came up to meet Tupac's honey brown colored ones. He looked thoughtful…Amber wished she knew what he was thinking.

Tupac spoke carefully, "Or we could just…_walk_?" He shrugged and looked to the ground. "It does not really matter to me because, you know, I am just the messenger. You decide."

She blinked at him, trying to understand what this meant to her. Did he really get her that well that he easily saw her apprehension? Sure, she made it painfully obvious but did he actually _care_? Well of course he cared, he seemed the type to consider everyone's feelings, but after the way she's been treating him, does he still want to consider her own emotions, or more specifically, her fears? The thought of trusting him was something she continued to try and reject. But it just kept pressing harder and harder against her mind as time passed, almost begging to be allowed access to her jumbled up brain of lies, deceit, and troubled thoughts.

"No, no, we'll hijack a car." Amber sighed, letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in. Her body trembled a bit. "We should get there as soon as possible."

Tupac hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Because we can always just walk."

"I get it."

"So you're positive?"

"YES, I'M POSITIVE!" Amber snapped, suddenly irritated. She made an exaggerated gesture to the city, ignoring the look her companion was giving her. "Let's just go already!"

Tupac instantly turned away and started going for the city. "Sorry," he apologized. He seemed to be going faster, as if he wanted to avoid Amber, but they both knew it was inevitable. He must've had a reason, since every time she had snapped at him he had taken it with nothing more than a flinch or a remark of some kind. He never actually tried to avoid her, as much as he looked like he wanted to.

Amber felt guilty and cursed herself for it, so she rushed to catch up with him, forcing him to a halt when she jumped in front of him. She jabbed a flipper at his chest with a scowl. "Spill it, what's up?"

"The sky? Some clouds perchance?"

The short tempered avian narrowed her gaze. "You know that's not what I meant, you smart-Alec."

Tupac shook his head in denial. "Nothing is wrong, I assure you."

"_Liar_," Amber grumbled lowly, fazing his look by the slightest. "It's my official business to know what's troubling you." When he made a move to speak, most likely to make a question, she simply said, "The reason why is because everything is going to be awkward if you don't, which I've always hated…and I'm _trying_ to like you—or at least not despise you. Flora would appreciate that." He made no move to talk, so she started guessing. "Is it about her?"

"Who, Flora? No," the brown necked raven replied instantly and raised an eye ridge questioningly.

Amber snorted with disbelief and scrutinized Tupac in such a way that he shifted uncomfortably from the tight focus. "Yeah right. I know you like her, and I'm not talking in a _friend_ way."

Tupac risked a nervous half-smile. "Brother-sister kind of way?"

"As in more of a crush sort of way." She smirked at the dumbfounded look he gave her. A wave of amusement washed over Amber in the form of smugness from the look he gave her. "Oh yeah, you made it painfully obvious. You keep talking about her, on and on and on. Did you think I wouldn't catch the hints? I'm more observant than I look, pal."

"I like her as a friend!" Tupac insisted, trying desperately not to get flustered. It didn't help when he ran his wing over his head of feathers in an attempt to smooth it out, resulting in it becoming out-of-sorts, just like how he felt. "Even so, that is not what is bothering me."

"So there _is_ something wrong with you."

"No," he groaned and ran a wing down his exasperated face. "Nothing is wrong, and Flora is just a friend-hey, do _not_ give me that look."

She couldn't help that sly smile stretch across her beak. "You're just confirming what I already know." Her amused expression then turned serious and critical. "I'm not all that sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I know she isn't interested."

"Say—hypothetically I do like her," Tupac began and looked to the side, refusing to meet her gaze. "How would you know that?"

"That, I'm sure she'll tell you," Amber said and coolly rubbed a flipper on her chest to get rid of imaginary dust. "And I'm going to be laughing when I see your face after you hear why." She then swiftly turned on her heel and started back to the city. "Again, not all that sorry." She made it clear on how she felt about him, and he wasn't sure on what to take from it.

Tupac couldn't help but scowl though, her somewhat less than hostility to his personal life got beneath his skin. He flapped his wings till he was hovering at her side again before falling with a thump onto the ground. "I _really _think you do not like me."

"Just know I'm not that bad," she grumbled under her breath, refusing to address the statement. There was a barely audible crack from afar, causing her to snatch Tupac's neck by the back of his neck feathers and press a flipper over his black beak. "Shh…it's probably that _thing _again."

"Real specific," he muttered sarcastically after brushing her aside. She attempted to cover his beak again for silence, but he swatted the flipper away. "I prefer if you did not do that," he whispered, just for the sake of being quiet.

Amber had already started walking away, right to the source of where she had heard the noise. "I'm going in…" she whispered lowly and pushed past the green plant life.

"You do not just walk over to a noise!" Tupac protested but followed her anyway. "I see that in movies all the time and the person always ends up losing their head."

"Scared are ya?" Amber pushed a branch aside, only to have it retreat and slap right at Tupac's defenseless and blameless face. He squawked in surprise, and fell backwards from the impact. She turned back and raised a brow ridge at the scene of him clutching his beak. "Can't you watch where you're going?" Her gaze caught the branch, and she ripped it off from the trunk with ease. "Geez, you're worse than Flora."

Another snap nearby caught her attention.

Amber whirled around and pointed the piece of wood in the direction of the noise. "You better come out!" she hollered. "I got a loaded branch, and I'm not afraid to use it!"

Tupac suddenly appeared at her side, causing her to give a brief scream that he stopped abruptly by flicking his wing over the shiny orange beak. He gave her an apology before saying, "I do not think a branch is an intimidating threat."

"Oh yeah?" Amber then tossed the stick into the bushes, a sudden thwack coming from the other side that was followed by a yelp. "HA! And they said I didn't have good aim!" She ran over, Tupac following, and hurtled over the bushes. She landed firmly on her feet with exuberating confidence and hostility, but stiffened in surprise at the sight of her target. The raven beside her went into a state of shock as well.

"Flora?"

Said penguin sat up and was rubbing her flipper over her eye. "Oww…you really got me there." She let her flipper drawl down her face, coming to rest at the back of her neck. She paused when she realized her commanding officer and raven friend glaring down at her, leering even closer as they waited for her to speak. "Oh…hey there…you guys. Heh," she chuckled nervously. She pointed to Amber's face and stated, "Nice shades…are they new?"

"What are you doing here?" Amber shouted and suddenly seized her second in command by the shoulders. "What the hell were you thinking? _Following ME_? I left without a word for a reason!"

The taller bird crouched down in fear, enough so that her leader was able to tower over her. "I can ex-"

"Oh Flora, you should not be here!" Tupac groaned and was, for once, angry. His brow was lowered into an infuriated glare, pulling off an intimidating look that stopped both females in their tracks. "You should have just stayed in New York! It is safer there! This is not a place for you!"

"Finally, we agree on something!" Amber turned her attention back onto her shocked friend, who was being shaken by the shoulders, and growled lowly, "I can't believe you just followed us here! What were you thinking?!"

Flora swallowed thickly. "I-I-I-" She took a step back to gain control of her breathing, ragged from both fear and lack of space. Suddenly gaining control of her bearings, Flora explained, "I just couldn't let you go at this alone. You need someone like me along."

"_I_ don't need anyone…"

"That's a matter of opinion," Flora said and crossed her flippers over her chest, trying to match her leader's glare with a scowl of her own. She wasn't as nearly as confident as she looked, or at least how she was hoping she looked. "Besides, you have Tupac around, so I'm guessing you need _someone_."

"Flora, please," Tupac pleaded, desperately trying not to let his rarely trigged temper show. "Just go back to New York." Amber and Flora were fully aware that he was more than upset and was possibly frustrated that the intelligent penguin was there. "This is something you should not be getting into."

"See, he gets my point!" Amber shouted, narrowing her glare at the more intelligent superior penguin. "However you got here, I want you to go back to New York _now_. You're going to keep anyone else from following me here and give me some cover till I'm done with my business."

Flora straightened her spine as much as possible, trying to appear even taller and more intimidating, and said firmly, "No."

There was an uncontrollable twitch to Amber's eye now, fazing Flora's demeanor by the slightest bit.

"Of all times, why do you decide to be stubborn now?" Amber groaned, slapping a flipper over her face, encouraging Flora to smile slightly.

"Because now it _does_ matter."

"There had been lots of times I could've had you be stubborn to my advantage, but you chose _now_?"

The brown feathered penguin shrugged with a soft smile on her face. "I guess I have some bad timing."

"You're telling me."

Flora's look softened further, and she placed a flipper on Amber's shoulder. "Just let me stay. I-I can help, really, I can be useful. Besides, I _know_ you want us here, even if you won't admit it."

Amber pushed the flipper off and gave her a stern scowl. "You're wrong again. I don't want any of you here because it's too dangerous…I can't have any of you injured just because of a mistake I made years ago." She shifted uncomfortably, trying to resist the urge to look back at her memories. "It's risky, and I'm _not_ about to put any of you in harm's way."

Tupac was the one to say something. "With the friends you got here, I doubt you would be able to get away with 'going alone'." He might've fooled them with his calm stature, but he was still having a gnarled feeling at the pit of his stomach. "I guarantee the others are coming after you right now."

The silver bird couldn't help but agree with him. Knowing them…they were bound to follow her. Sometimes she hated how loyal they could be.

"Then I see no point in leaving," Flora put out, smiling if a bit smugly. She tried to ignore Amber's glare and murmured quietly, "I know you're scared, but I'm going to help you, whether you like it or not." She saw Amber's eyes widen, whether it was from insubordination of orders or her ability to see that she was scared. Flora had, with those simple words, struck a nerve in a way that she could use to her advantage. "I'll be useful and can keep track of things for you. Can't I stay?"

Amber rubbed her flipper at the back of her neck in deep thought, often clamping down on the layer of skin and feathers, before dragging her flipper back to her side. She tried to sound grudgingly but the two birds saw through it. "I _guess_ I'll allow you to come." She saw the grin and added sharply, "_But_ if anything gets dangerous it's back to New York."

Flora perked up, and she did something rare and hugged her commanding officer. She scooped the silver penguin up into her flippers and swept her across the forest floor, dancing across dead and crispy brown leaves. "Thank you! I promise I'll do everything to the best of my abilities!" She came to a sudden halt, nearly squeezing Amber to death.

"Breathe, air, now!" she gasped and struggled to push her subordinate away. She was immediately released, a prompt apology following. Amber sighed and smoothed her ruffled feathers back down but smiled the slightest bit. "I didn't realize you were a hugger," she joked, a teasing comment, as she fixed her shades back into place, but she was amused to hear an answer from Flora.

The already embarrassed penguin laughed awkwardly. "Oh yes that," she chuckled, turning a tint of pink out of embarrassment. "It's a habit of extreme joyous emotion." She grinned crookedly. "I guess I've been doing it a lot lately." She shrugged and flicked her soft brown eyes from Tupac to Amber and back and forth. "It's…not a problem is it? 'Cause I can always stop if it is!" Disapproval was a weak point, one she has always feared upon, especially from her close knit relationships like Amber and Tupac. What they thought of her meant a lot to Flora.

"Do not be insecure," Tupac told her lightly and hopped to her side, grinning at her fondly. "You are fine just as you are." He grinned at Flora's shy smile.

Amber groaned and made a gagging motion. "Man, could you get any cheesier?" she criticized and made a scene of over exaggerated dry heaving. Again, it was a tease, but Flora was amused none the less.

Flora giggled and put a flipper over her beak to stifle it upon seeing Tupac's irked look. She rolled her eyes and smiled playfully. Her flipper reached out from behind him and gripped his shoulder. His surprised look prompted her to grin. "It's always going to be like this," Flora informed him pointedly, much to his consternation. "You may or may not get used to it. I know I'm not, and I've known her for four years!"

"Hey, _I'm still right here_!" Amber hollered and flapped her flippers at her sides in what she was hoping to look menacing, and at the least, threatening.

Long had Flora had time to adjust to Amber's mood swings, but she always found herself puzzling over how emotional she was, even over the small things. Prone to be overdramatic and angry was just one of the things Flora had learned over the course of years she had known Amber. Though she had been cold and, if it wasn't for anger, near emotionless when they first met, she slowly loosened up and became more open, passionate, and firm about her emotions and opinions. Flora could only imagine how Amber really was if she had just scratched the surface of her personality.

"Sorry," she apologized half-heartedly. Quietly she whispered to Tupac, "Be careful on what you say, she has _really_ good hearing."

Before he could even forge a response, Amber snapped sourly, "I know that already!" The tidbit of information might not have been for her, but she took it anyway and spat it out bitterly. Though this reaction was not surprising, it could be rather annoying. Well, no one was perfect after all. "Now, I have no idea on what to do next, so can someone please tell me what direction I'm walking to?"

Tupac simply gestured his wing in the direction of the city, his right. With this new found knowledge, Amber marched to the city with confidence and a hint of swagger in every step. He and Flora followed Amber from behind, keeping little to no distance between themselves with room for chat. There was room for it but Flora quickly discovered that Tupac didn't want to make a conversation. This startled her.

She did what she remembered had always worked when they were little and stared at the back of Tupac's head, waiting for him to get that same uncomfortable feeling she had when being watched. Sensing the focused gaze, Tupac was patronized to look. When he did so, Flora flashed him a warm smile. He returned it with a grin of his own.

However, Flora saw behind it. The way his facial features scrunched up when he grinned, how he was never focusing his gaze on her, how he immediately looked back to the side from the brief exchange, and why she could feel his tense and awkward air. Why he was acting so strange she might never know. Although it would not hurt to try and find out, right?

"Are you okay?" Flora asked him softly, concern lacing itself into her voice.

Tupac refused to even look at her direction, constantly giving his head quick jerks from side to side as he switched from the ground, to the trees, to the sky, everything but her. A couple of brown and orange leaves shook from the trees above, immediately getting Tupac's attention. He left his focus at the above, eyes slitted in what appeared to be thought or what could've been a vain attempt to search for something. He kept quiet for a minute, and she waited patiently for him to confess his inner thoughts. She could tell from Amber's lack of upper movement that she too was waiting for Tupac to speak.

Finally he confessed with an answer that unsettled her, very similar to the emotion of hurt and disappointment. "I really wish you were not here right now…"

And he refused to speak anymore after that.

Back underwater and a long distance away from the avian diverse group was the still pursuing submarine. It was drastically calmer and quieter than before, much to Rico and Private's relief. Unfortunately, the water vessel had some new dents at the side, and there were scattered blue prints, plans, and maps across the now cluttered floor. Skipper couldn't help himself to pick it up and instead assisted Rico in nursing Private's recently inflicted wound.

"Sorry Private," Skipper apologized with an almost genuine note as Rico placed an icepack on the young bird's throbbing and bruised head. "I think I'm just stressed."

"No duh," Rico snorted and put his attention back into steering the submarine. This comment was dismissed.

Private winced at the sting of the icepack on the bruised side of his head. "It's alright Skippah…as long as I don't have permanent brain damage than its fine." He scowled in Rico's direction at his chuckle.

"Besides, the chances of an alien taking over your brain that quickly and without me noticing is impossible." Skipper went to go sit back into his chair, otherwise forgetting about how he had repeatedly smacked Private with a frying pan till he was convinced there was no alien attacking his brain. "That possible concussion aside, Private, how close are we to Europe?"

The injured penguin looked at the various charts and blinking gadgets they had and came to a quick conclusion. "Only about a couple miles away from Europe, Skippah, possibly five. It won't take much longer than an hour to reach France at this pace." He frowned and rubbed his sore cranium with his free flipper. That was going to pain him for a while.

Skipper nodded his acknowledgment. "In that case, Rico, full throttle solider!"

Rico cackled maniacally and turned up the volume on his headphones to a tune that made him nothing but excited. "Boo yah!" he cried and pulled down a lever that had them speeding forward. He ignored the startled screams and laughed hysterically as he narrowly avoided mounds of sea rock and coral. "Duh, duh, duh!" he boomed. He then sang a garbled string of lyrics that neither of the penguins understood.

"Rico!" Skipper hollered.

The psychopath, having heard his leader's exceptionally loud shout, lowered his headphones from his earholes and craned his neck over. "Yeah?"

"You're off key, fix that!" Skipper then blinked and pointed a flipper. "WALL, THERE'S A WALL, RIGHT THERE!"

Of course this did not faze the badass singer. Rico placed the headphones back on, cranked the volume up higher beyond reason, and pulled a violent barrel roll that had Skipper and Private tumbling with it. Their heads clunked against the walls of metal as they went spinning, but Rico was miraculously staying where he was at the wheel, singing a rough montage of lyrics from whatever song he was listening to. Rico was bobbing his head up and down, hardly paying attention to where he was steering the submarine and what danger he was putting them in.

Skipper grasped his seat when the barrel roll ended and used his other flipper to hull Private up to his feet. "You alright there soldier?"

Private patted himself down to make sure, only wincing at the further bruised side of his head. "Yes, I think I am… Skippah, can I say something?"

The commanding officer smirked. "Well of course you can! This is American waters; you can say whatever you want!"

"Thank you," Private said and smiled cutely. That look quickly deteriorated and he screamed, "HE'S GOING TO GET US KILLLED!"

Skipper shook his head, still smirking. "Nah, Rico's got a tenth sense when it comes to operating vehicles. He doesn't need to pay attention!"

He lost Private in the first couple of words. "Tenth sense?"

"Yeah, tenth sense. You know there's twenty-seven, right? About seventeen are classified." Skipper grumbled under his breath, "Stupid walruses not giving me access…"

"Uh, actually, I don't think-"

He was cut off by Rico's sudden maniacal laughter. The weapons expert was rocking his head erratically to the beat where it looked like it would come right off.

"Rico quit it!"

The psychopath sighed, for once listening to the fear driven private, and tossed away the headphones. "Fine," he grumbled. Much more bored and calm now, they smoothly avoided all obstacles, expect for the occasional school of fish. A burst of laughter came from his scarred beak every time there was a thump from a fish hitting the glass. The bitter part of watching the fish was that he couldn't eat them…

Skipper finally settled himself into his seat but slumped in it as he thought. He wasn't showing it but he was concerned. He's seen some pretty nasty stuff in his time in the military, so all of his paranoia came from those experiences and his 'cautiousness'. When concern was added to the picture, the worst fantasies came to mind. The last thing he wanted was to see Amber to get hurt… or worse. Honestly, he didn't know how he would react, but he hoped it was manly and strong like for his own pride's sake.

Then again, luck seemed to be against him as of late. He had to remember to stop by Ireland and punch the first leprechaun in sight.

He inhaled deeply and exhaled to relax his tense muscles. His eyes wandered over to his men, eyeing each individual critically, cataloging their actions. Skipper's blue orbs softened ever so slightly that only the most observant of people could catch. But he was lucky. He was lucky to have these devoted men at his side, no matter what inevitable mess he brought them into. Kowalski, Private, and Rico, his loyal soldiers at arms.

He hoped at the end of this little adventure that it would stay that way.


End file.
